Tom Vek, We Have Sound
Tom Vek is young: 23 years young, debut album recorded in his parents 'London garage young. Youth grounds We Have Sound, but it is not necessarily an innocent record.
The album is defined by its raw, anxious and unprocessed sound (see: garage), matter-of-fact lyrics and a collection of mostly declarative song titles (see: youth, before blacks and whites fade to grays). His immediate surroundings — love, fame and post-adolescent/pre-adult ennui — inform his songwriting. Though much more bare-boned, this direct, even abrupt, approach is reminiscent of contemporary and fellow countryman Mike Skinner of The Streets. Vek is world-weary in a way only twentysomethings can be; though his voice often sounds sardonic and remote, the electro-pop beats, rhythmic repetitions and insights that pepper his straightforward expressions reveal a pervasive and infectious energy. No matter how tired he gets, there's always room for one more car ride, one more party, one more love song.
In all of its lo-fi glory, We Have Sound — loyal to but different from both rock and electronica — is a collection of found noises cobbled together from Vek's musical forbearers. He draws obvious inspiration from Television, P.I.L. and Talking Heads (the latter being most apparent on “Nothing But Green Lights”). But Vek recognizes his derivativeness: the instantly gratifying “I Ain't Saying My Goodbyes” affects a pre-emptive strike against the clock's inevitable tolling of his 15 minutes.
And just when Vek seems to have popped in for some aural vintage shopping, he turns out “If I Had Changed My Mind” — an angry, almost irritated love song whose washboard guitar is punctuated by high-pitched clatter and Vek's frustrated falsetto — a track that modestly suggests maybe we haven't heard everything before.
