Really, I don’t get the fuss over Tom Vek. His is certainly a name to conjure with, one that inspires reverence in certain quarters and virtual pant-jizzing in 6Music circles.
According to the press release hype, Tom Vek ‘offers up an eclectic blend of catchy hooks laid over elements of garage rock and mid-noughties electronic’ and ‘on his latest album 'Luck', Vek creates a record that speaks clearly to today’s generation in that its themes vary from disillusion to hopelessly lovestruck.’
I’m not entirely sure who ‘today’s generation’ might be but I’m going to assume for a moment that I’m not part of it.
The woozy, warped intro to ‘How Am I Meant to Know’ is promising enough, but doesn’t go anywhere even after the crashing drums pile in on top of the nagging electro beats and giddy loops, and Vek’s atonal and self-indulgent outpourings of angst just sound pathetic.
In fact, Vek’s voice is a significant stumbling block here. It’s not that I’m of the opinion one needs to be a great singer to be a great recording artist. I love The Fall, for goodness’ sake. But Vek alternatives between flat droning and off-key whooping and neither works, and the same is true of his attempts to tie together dance / electro and and indie / rock tropes.
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There are some good elements – the thunderous beats of ‘Broke’, the sonorous grunge bassline of the dark and angry-sounding ‘A Mistake’ and the contemplative acoustic guitar work on ‘The Girl You Wouldn’t Leave for Any Other Girl’ – but they’re countered by the cheap synth sounds, the self-conscious world music elements, the clashing time signatures, the stylistic switches and excessive layering. ‘Pushing Your Luck’ lives up to its title, and sounds like a remix of a Sting outtake by some third-rate dance act with a penchat for Animal Collective. The sub-par electro-Pavement ‘You’ll Stay’ is just wince-inducing. It all sounds so forced. Instead of presenting the face of crossover innovation, ‘Luck’ just sounds like so much misguided bedroom wankery – the apex of toss.
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