Manitoba Music
Permanent Rain Press Review Every Kind Of Light EP
By VAMPIRES
Another fantastic review of VAMPIRES new album, Every Kind Of Light EP by The Permanent Rain Press
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Harkening from the dirtiest of the dirt, VAMPIRES hits like Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh, all at once a punch in the gut that drops you to your knees in some Midwestern parking lot and the hand that helps you back up then offers you an Old Milwaukee. Their latest EP, the deftly-named Every Kind of Light, continues the noise-rock duo’s tradition of distorted, omnipresent guitars (is there really just one? there’s really just one) matched by distorted yet vulnerable vocals and thrashing, basement-punk drums that work together to rattle your cassette player — this is young-adult winter desperation music.
The EP’s opening track, “Not Waiting ‘till Fall,” is soft and fragile, fading in to light drums and clean picked guitar, but these misconceptions are quickly dropped as the distortion is turned on. Like the song itself, the lyrics speak of a decaying city, and days of eternal waiting and eternal lost chances. Then the song shifts to soaring major chords, giving hope to those trapped, only to fall back into an angrier series of riffs that cut short all hopes of escape.
This sentiment of no escape is echoed throughout the EP. In the instrumental track “Riff Rise,” no vocals come to emancipate the heavy, rhythmic guitar that churns in endless circles with the drums. It’s as if someone’s running, but to where they cannot tell. “Winnipeg Song” leaves where “Not Waiting ‘till Fall” left off, pained lamentations about the city and the people that live there, and the only person worth talking to – who isn’t around anymore.
The EP’s final track, “There’s No Kissing Anymore,” takes the distortion to a new level and ambles on, like a lumbering drunk, shouting at strangers, angry at the world, a final cry for vindication that gets crushed with sleep and a hangover. And, like that final vindication, the song and EP end on a last shaky guitar note that finally slips away into oblivion.
So if that’s the kind of thing you’re into, check this album out.
Written by: Paris Spence-Lang