With a CV that boasts such iconic bands as Shelleyann Orphan and The Cure, Jemaur Tayle and Boris Williams’ Vamberator is going to blip on many a discerning music fan’s radar before the virtual needle has even dropped on the digital record. But past glories be as they may, and both men have made glorious music in the past, even such luminaries must be judged on what they now give us.
Thankfully, they don’t disappoint, and what they give us with this lament to loneliness is a stark and spacious piece of ambient-pop with no small nod to Dead Can Dance’s Brendan Perry.
And if Rolo McGinty, who you will have encountered initially as the front man of The Woodentops, preciously remixed “Creature in My House” into a zesty, long and vibrant dance piece, “I Need Contact” is instead drifting and atmospheric, a floating sonic sheen that seems to exist merely to frame and underline the sentiment and sense of the lyrics.
It addresses an increasingly common concern of the modern world: the idea that, although we are told the digital age has made us more connected, more in touch, more accessible, the reality is we are, as a species, increasingly isolated, at arm’s length… alone.
Beautiful and poignant, graceful and compelling, this is music that, in its understatement and reserve, actually speaks volumes.
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