aaamusic | On 20, Jun 2012

It doesn’t really look like summer outside, but you can still play a sunny record in your room and the temperature goes up. Maybe.

Vacationer is a four-piece band from Philadelphia and Gone is their debut album under Downtown Records.

Singer/songwriter Kenny Vasoli (ex The Starting Line, Person L) finally found in this project the ground to experiment a variety of styles. With him (vocals and bass), Greg Altman (guitar), Michael Mullin (vibraphone, keys, and trigger finger) and Ryan Zimmaro (drums) last year formed a band that you will definitely hear about.

 

Music. The more you listen to it, the more you catch the nuances that reminds you to other bands, other songs. As said before, Gone is impossible to be classified in one genre. Produced by Matthew Young and Grant Wheeler (Body Language), the final result is a lo-fi complex and rich list of pop and electronic songs. Weird but catchy. Experimental but immediate. Retro and futuristic. Smart, ah?

You find the Gorillaz style hip-hop soulful first track Everyone Knows mixed with the tropical percussion and sounds of Vampire Weekend, the stunning second tune Good As New, old times charming strings and electronic beats. The permanent dreamy mood for some reasons makes me think of Beach House, despite there’s no clear trace of their dream pop – oh wait there is, clearly there in the title track.

I’m sure I’ll be happy to listen to this record on a dream house on a tropical beach. And the tropics (and the Vampire Weekend too) come back with the hit single of the album Dreamlike. I know you’ll dance this song all summer long.

Something changes with Summer End the samples and the beats leave room to a pure love pop song that is just delicious. The song fades into the next Great Love forming together one of the best moments of the whole record. Final Be With You is the beautiful end of a beautiful record.

 

Perfectly crafted, dominant percussion lines, layers of samples and tiny sounds, never baroque or kitsch, this is a wonderful debut album.

★★★★★

Pietro Nastasi