Volage - Maddie EP (Howlin Banana Records)
 |
| Volage - Maddie EP |
Release Date: 1st November
According to their Facebook page,
Volage's interests amount to just two things; Fuzz and Flowers. Considering
their EP cover features flowers and every one of the six tunes is fuzzed up to
the max, I'd say that's a pretty accurate description even if it's not very
useful for a blogger trying to find an angle on a band! Nevertheless, we'll let
the music do the talking and dive straight in, non? Oui. Y'see, Volage are a
Parisian quintet who kick things off with the jaunty, jangly 60s infused 'Not
Enuff' which has punk sensibilities but the melodies of Hermans Hermits or
Manfred Mann. Meanwhile, 'Wall Of Smoke' feels like somewhere between early
Dandy Warhols and Redd Kross and 'Many
Hopes' has hints f early Arctic Monkeys but only if they'd been more influenced
by Beach Boys records and a recent French exchange trip.
The deceptive acoustic openings
of 'I'm A Fool' soon give way to oh-so-cool, fuzzy guitars and dirty, growling
bass that would have many a hipster shaking their bobbed hair cut in approval.
'Bob Is Alive' (presumably named after that brief period when everyone though
Bob Hoskins was dead and then realised he wasn't) is a dark, almost
incomprehensible change in direction for Volage, much like that moment when a
fun, drink fuelled night takes a sobering turn for the worst upon the
realisation that your wallet has been stolen and you dropped your phone down a
toilet. Finishing up with 'Heart Healing (Take 1)', it's obvious that Volage
have slowly been getting more and more inebriated throughout the recording of
this EP as they finish up with an impish, Lennon being Bowie being Bolan style
tune that, if the needle got stuck in the wrong place, could drive you insane
extremely quickly. And that is a very real possibility as this EP is being
released on delicious white 10" vinyl for your delectation and I
wholeheartedly recommend that you tuck in. Bon appétit!
More information: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Volage/195910537127559?fref=ts