2009-05-31
Out of Portland, duo-used-to-be, Viva Voce is now a quartet for its second album on Barsuk Records. Combining guy-girl harmonies with dreamy guitar and dark lyrics, Viva Voce offers and ambient shoegaze-pop sound. This album was written, arranged and recorded within a month for an immediate sound. Best songs are the country-noir "Red Letter Day" and "Die A Little" with its cool "oooh, oooh, oooh" refrain. Nothing here beats "Devotion", though, the album's opener. Rebecca Ruth
Joseph Arthur
Nuclear Daydream
UMPHREY'S MCGEE
The Bottom Half
WILLY MASON
If the Ocean Gets Rough
The Decemberists
Picaresque
BRUCE HORNSBY AND THE NOISEMAKERS
LEVITATE
Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros
Streetcore
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