4 out of 5

Label: Crank

Produced by: Keith Souza (recorded by)

Coded within Vehicle Birth’s Crank-released album is, undeniably, a lot of emo befitting that label. The noodly guitar, bass and drums interplay is reminiscent of many glittery, shouty bands from that genre / label, singer Timothy James contributing those shouts between bouts of calm speak-singing, mostly in a youthy register that, again, fits that scene. 

But we’re not there yet. Before we get there, experience the oddity of VB: the avoidant anti-rock, off-key plodding that drives most tracks; the indie rock, flat, spoken word delivery of sometimes dumb, sometimes silly, sometimes downright cryptic lyrics… And then throw in explosively anarchic moments: left-field clatter that reminds of Wicked Farleys, from whom I found Vehicle Birth, thanks to split release… 

Tragedy is, on the one hand, easy to define, a la my first paragraph, but a more patient listen finds threads woven through all sorts of weirdness, yet tied together by a very controlled, paced backbone. This can prove a bit repetitive at times – a central “sound” the album swirls around, perhaps at the cost of more direct hits, but at the same time, this avoidant stricture has proven timeless; easy to define, and yet utterly unique. Of course they only made it to one album and then disappeared.