The Vacant Lots‘ intriguing mix of lo-fi ’80s synth sounds and doomed US street beats makes for a scuzzy but satisfying trawl through the downtown lights of New York’s underground.
Having just read a book based around the NYC blackout of ’77, there was something quite fitting about listening to this short, sharp burst as if this was the sort of stuff kids would have been checking out in grimy, overheated dives as the lights went out.
There are eight tracks on Closure and the whole thing is over in twenty-five minutes, but it manages to leave a mark like a 3am CBGBs set.Ironically, although it was recorded in the isolation of lockdown, the duo of Jared Artaud and Brian MacFadyen never sounded so together with the scuzzy synths, hard ’80s beats and textural squeals of opener “Thank you” merging into a desperate howl as the cold voice thanks somebody for wasting their time.
You feel the despair and disappointment leak from the dark dancefloor misery as lonely people move in time to a sound that speaks to them alone as they wonder what life will hand them as they leave the club. They describe an atmosphere really well, with the cheap, sharp guitar of “Consolation Prize” wending around a slower, more treacly kind of sickness.Jagged guitar chords glitter around the insistent night beat on “Disintegration”, while “Chase” is kind of sexy, with a funky groove that shows the duo can grasp at a positive outlook when it is fleetingly passing. All in all, Closure is a really cool release, with the early ’80s UK synths battling with jagged guitar skewers on closer “Burning Bridges” in is a perfect example of their light and shade approach.
The shade may be more overwhelming, but there is enough light in there to keep us searching for more.-Mr Olivetti-
