Gone are the Tony Allen influenced afrobeat rhythms and guitar driven melodies of breakthrough LP ‘Skeleton’ as Abe Vigoda relinquish their former self-proclaimed title of “tropical punk”. Welcome instead to the morbid realms of 80’s synthpop and postpunk, channelling Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen and The Cure.
The music is both urgent and intense and, despite four to the floor rhythms replacing their previous afrobeat styling’s, it is just as complex as 2008’s ‘Skeleton’. Michael Vidal’s languorous vocals, perfectly capture a feeling more associated with Robert Smith, Ian Curtis and Tinderstick’s Stuart Staples without sounding like a pale imitator. Surprisingly ‘Crush’ contains some of the most hopeful music Abe Vigoda have produced in their careers, ‘Pure Violence’, ‘Repeating Angel’ and ‘Throwing Shade’ all bringing a touch of optimism to proceedings.
What Abe Vigoda have created is their most complete album, each song fitting perfectly into the overall theme, without sounding so similar the listener becomes bored. Inspiration for this change in direction must certainly be attributed to new drummer Dane Chadwick whom Vidal credits with helping the band focus on melody and introducing them to a large range of electronic instruments, many of which have seemingly ended up on the album.
A dirtier and darker version of The XX’s recent Mercury Award winning album, ‘Crush’ is well and truly a step in the right direction for the LA quartet.
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