National Music Reviews
Vanish Valley
Queen of the Concert
Hard Bark
Street: 05.12
Vanish Valley = Wilco + Pavement
Los Angeles–based Vanish Valley have released their third album, Queen of the Concert, which differs from their previous albums. Andrew McAllister’s total-folk motives have shifted to a now semi-rock album. Queen of the Concert dabbles between rock and Americana with McAllister on the vocals, Guy Christiano on the bass, Alex Owen on the guitar and keys and Daniel Goldblatt on the drums. They hold on to the acoustic elements on tracks like “Dinner Party” and “Drifters Eyes” but often rise and fall to subtle synthesizers and electronic spurts on tracks like “Helicopters”—but in a cool, psychedelic way. Pretty much from start to finish, Queen of the Concert reverbs and flows through good vibrations.
–Lizz Corrigan