aaamusic | On 20, Jun 2014

Tom Vek’s latest album Luck has a balance of dark, harsh sounds that ultimately make up a swirling world of fantasy in which the artist and listener are both able to delve deep into and immerse themselves in. Vek seems completely unseperable from the music and it feels at though he has found himself transformed into some form of human-robot hybrid with the ability to create an absolutely watertight album.

It’s intense, oh boy is it intense, but there aren’t any moments in the album at which I feel myself being pushed away – it’s more like I’m being pulled right into the centre of Vek’s musical laboratory. Each song hits hard as a stream of lyrical messages seem to almost soften the pressure of the relentlessly thrusting tunes. Opening track ‘How Am I Meant To Know’ brings you into this piece of robotic mastery with open arms, in my head I’m seeing something similar to the over-played Spiderman villain Dr. Octopus but maybe that’s a sign I should cut down on the comics. There is an individual charm attributed to each track on this album yet they never stray too far from one another and the consistent theme throughout is plain for all to see.

At times Vek may be a little guilty of over-playing his hand when it comes to repetition, the final minute of ‘Pushing Your Luck’ is testament to this, yet it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things as these often titular phrases are a handy way of working out just how deep you’ve fallen into the album. It’s hard to pick a single, or even handful, of tracks on the album that doesn’t have a weak spot but ‘Ton Of Bricks’ is probably my personal highlight particularly due to the simplistic, effective drumming and the middle 8 in which we enter the crux of the machine.

Though there are times at which this feels like it could a debut album of material concocted in a teenager’s bedroom, it is hard to deny the level of maturity and class that Vek brings to the album as he powers the idea through from start to finish. The never-wavering, always pulsating nature of Luck results in a polished end product that needs no hint of good fortune to earn the status of a true musical gem.

★★★★★

Ciaran Steward