Vince Leigh’s Single Review: Standing In The Light Of The Room by Vancool
By Drummer Vince Leigh (Pseudo Echo, John Farnham, Tina Arena) from the Australian Radio Promotions
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Unfurling two-way desire informs and fuels Vancool’s latest, the title track from their forthcoming album. The Fremantle-based band are in fine indie power rock form, offering us a strident, classic chugging guitar foundation to unleash a simmering post-punk state of mind, all beneath a generous indie-pop surface.
Formed by Dion Mariani of Perth with stage regulars The Flairz, Custom Royal, and Ray Finkle, Standing In The Light Of The Room was produced by Justin Zanetic (Ruiner, Last Quokka, Ray Finkle) and pretty much delivers on many levels. The verse’s melodic structure empowers Mariani’s vocal stance, a performance that continues for the duration of the tune, with its offhanded, down-and-dirty dispersions only softening at the tail end of the choruses and during the bridge’s bareboned opening. The latent hooks of the verses and the steamrolling pulse of the track itself all contrive to augment the pay-off chorus mantra, an aggregate featuring an obvious singalong first half and an even sweeter reply.
This musical ambush ascends with its falsetto-like cooing and oohing, taking us all along on the ride. Amid the galloping emotional swells, the peppy kinetic guitars, and the outro song urgency of the drum groove, there are a few additional elements of finesse and surprise, as the stop-start bass during the instrumental sections reveals, and, more obviously, the bridge’s build, from vocal and electric piano intimate rawness to a snappy snare rolling parting shot, the kind that befits the see-saw sunniness of the chorus and all that comes thereafter.
Everything you would want in a decent indie-rock experience is here, hammered down with a palpable sense of aspiration and purposefulness. The twin-pronged melodic handiwork of the chorus and its tag is, of course, the song’s left hook, yet the accompanying sashay around the rock and roll ring to get to those climaxes is well worth your time.
STREAM Standing In The Light Of The Room
Sheldon’s Notes: Vancool have been soaring across the Perth scene since releasing their 2 singles in 2021 – See To Believe and I’ll Follow You, supporting legendary bands and artists such as Hoodoo Gurus, Eskimo Joe, British India, Davey Lane (You Am I), and The Charlatans. In November, Vancool enthralled the crowd in support of The Animals (We’ve Got To Get Out of This Place, House of the Rising Land), and The Psychedelic Furs. Without a doubt 2023 will be another breakthrough year, kicking off with another major support act for Del Amitri in 2 shows at the Astor Theatre in February 15 and 16. Tickets are available from Live Nation Australia.
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