Review: Choir Vandals - At Night EP
By Chris Reinbold, Contributor
[6131; 2014]
Rating: 7/10
Key Tracks: “Monsters,” “Medicate”
St. Louis’ Choir Vandals have been making a name for themselves and picking up steam over the past year. The four-piece has a raucous effort under their belt in 2013’s Darker Things. Now, one year later, they have an even better follow-up in At Night.
At Night proves to be tighter than their previous EP. Guitarist and lead vocalist Austin McCutchen attributed this to having their birds in a row, more than when Choir Vandals recorded Darker Things.
“We were like ‘You know, we should get a lead guitarist.’ Micah [Kelleher] was just the obvious choice,” said McCutchen. Kelleher was a last-minute in-studio addition to the band during the recording of Darker Days.
The EP opens with “Monsters.” This cut is a steady rocker, reminiscent of The Strokes, with powerhouse drumming. The vocal kicks in during a bass-driven verse and has a similar vibe to the vocal of Julian Casablancas. The build to the chorus builds up perfectly with the hooking “It spins around / And around / And around/ It goes!”
“Monsters” has a reverb-laden, nearly-tremolo picked guitar interlude, displaying that the band has dabbled within the realm of noise rock. When asked about the tones and sounds of the album, McCutchen spoke about how they were less “beachy” than on their previous release, displaying a definite evolution.
Next on the short EP is “Medicate.” The track starts with a ferocious sliding guitar that moves into airy chords and immediately into McCutchen’s vocal. The verse is driving, leading into a chorus that immediately catches your ear. The verse rolls around a second time; there is a solid, walking bass underneath the vocal to carry it home. By the second chorus, it is all too easy to hum-along.
McCutchen has a knack for writing attention-grabbing choruses. When examining the guitars’ verses and chords, the sound is familiar. “There’s a Sonic Youth and Fugazi-type vibe on a couple of them. It was a lot of that and then Neva Dinova,” said the frontman.
The remaining two tracks back off a tiny bit from the high-energy feel of the previous two songs. The band seems to “relax” into the beat more on “At Night and In the Rain” and “Watch.” Both display McCutchen’s uncanny ability to write instantly snaring choruses. Choir Vandals displays how tight they are and how much they have grown since their previous EP.
The production on At Night is very clean, although it is heavily garage rock-inspired. McCutchen revealed that the album was not tracked in a big-name studio with a notorious producer; instead it was produced and engineered by a local college's audio engineering professor, a friend of drummer Wil McCarthy.
However, the album does have a few faults. With all of the garage rock goodness, it is really easy to imagine The Strokes singing these songs, though McCutchen does sing in a more annunciated fashion than Casablancas. The band incorporates some odd chord voices and progressions throughout, but that does not mean that they have finished blossoming.
Choir Vandals are blooming and maturing, but the two faster songs are similar to each other, as are the two slower songs. The band has not written enough to encompass all of the elements they seem to be striving to include. Choir Vandals have a solid foundation and plenty of room to grow; give them time and some more experience and this group will be big.
