Van She - V (2008)

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By Clayton Ford

Van She could hardly be accused of rushing into recording their first album.

In fact for their dedicated fans, it has been three very long years of waiting, checking their myspace page for updates, and old fashioned praying.

Van She burst onto the pop scene in late 2005 with their glorious 1980s styled single Kelly and an amazing subsequent self-titled EP. Since then they have rationed out material in the form of remixes, videos, singles (Sex City in 2006 and Cat and the Eye in 2007) like well dressed farmers (meaning them) to ravenous starving pigs (meaning us).

While Kelly and the EP (which included Sex City) rooted the band firmly in the quirky 1980s synth-pop genre, their new LP "V" goes on to reveal far more than those early recordings suggested could have ever been beneath the surface.

In fact, I wouldn't hesitate to say that the musical growth that band has undertaken, as well as the depth both lyrically and musically achieved in this album, is nothing short of staggering.

To say that I am prouder than an Olympic Gold winners parents that this band is Australian would be the single biggest understatement of the year.

The band wrote the bulk the album in Sydney in early 2007 before shipping off to the UK, where they recorded the album with Jim Abbiss (whose previous credits include the Arctic Monkeys and Massive Attack).

From opener Memory Man to closing track Sharp Knife, Van She treat us to luscious production, humorous and mind bending lyrics, and bring-the-house-down singles (like a re-worked version of Kelly, Changes, Cat and the Eye, and current single Strangers).

But now I've blabbed on like a schoolgirl over this record - here are the cold hard facts:

"V", it's the new album by Sydney band Van She... and it's good, damn good!

RATING: 4.5 out of 5

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