10

Viva Love!

Husband and wife duo Kevin and Anita Robinson a.k.a. Viva Voce have been poised on the brink of a major U.K. breakthrough for some time now and this handy primer could finally push them towards the wider recognition they deserve.

Compiled from the best bits of their first three full-length albums (currently only available on import in the U.K.) it's a perfect, if slightly too short intro to the band's hook-laden brand of summery psych-rock. 'Wrecking Ball' opens the album in impressive fashion, melding the sugar-sweet Kim Deal-esque vocals of Anita with a muscular rhythm section and fuzzed up guitars. 'Alive With Pleasure' maintains the hazy vibe while making a sly nod in the direction of Juliana Hatfield and the band's most obvious peers Joyzipper whose footsteps the band appear to be treading in. 'Lesson Number 1' has the potential to be a feel-good hit of the late summer while 'From The Devil Himself' is the pick of the early bunch (and maybe the album itself). Featuring a rare vocal from Kevin it gallops along with infectious energy and features the kind of chorus you'll be humming for weeks to come. It's a shame then that this initial good work is slightly undone by the woozy Flaming Lips lite 'The Centre Of The Universe' – a song that's a little too pastiche-y for it's own good. Thankfully the band regain momentum quickly, 'High Highs' is a surprisingly conventional pop number that jives to a bossa-nova style rhythm. The overall effect is the creation of a vaguely R&B-ish number (in the new sense of the term) sprinkled with liberal doses of xylophone. 'One In Every Crowd' by contrast dabbles on the light side of shoegaze, mixing droning, effects heavy guitars with bright, breezy close harmonies and driving Krautrock beats. The album closes with the oddly titled 'Faster Than A Dead Horse' – a song that seems to match Shins front-man James Mercer's description of the band i.e. "(they) take the dream aesthetic of shoegaze psych-pop and beat the living (faeces) out of it" and you can't say fairer than that.

'Loves You' may be a touch on the derivative side but when the songs are of such a high standard is anyone really going to care? As hors d'oeuvres go this is more than enough to be getting started with, let's just hope those main courses (the re-issued albums in full) are on their way soon.