For those that have been following the industrial, EBM genre for some time, VNV Nation hails with the other forefathers in one’s music collection, from KMFDM and Skinny Puppy, to Chemlab, 16 Volt, Apoptygma Berzerk, Nitzer Ebb, and others who have been on the Metropolis catalog at one point or another. Still going strong for the past 21 years, VNV returns in 2011 with Automatic (Anachron America) and a subsequent U.S. tour.
Released in September, Automatic has done well on Germany’s Media Control music chart, which makes sense, given Germany’s immense and consistent support for the dark, musical catacomb styles. While the single “Control” has pushed VNV Nation back into the spotlight, “Resolution” deserves as much attention, pulsating with that evocative beat and a set of lyrics that are quite inspiring, given these gray, cloudy days we all live in.
Which brings me to “Goodbye 20th Century,” a song that could have easily made its way into the “Melancholia” soundtrack, with its woven tapestry of strings and that signal of either the end of one world or the beginning of another. It’s a surprising and lovely interlude before “Streamline,” which like “Resolution,” looks from a mountain top over into the future, where we are in the now 21st Century and how we can get out of this torrid mess we are in.
Not that I expect doom and gloom when I delve into this style of music (you know, the tone and mood that inspired a well-deserved poke via SNL’s “Goth Talk”) that once took up a lot more of my listening time, or that I tend to pigeonhole a band into a preconceived notion based on its genre, but I have to say Automatic had many more cathartic qualities to it than I would have expected. At the same time, it is the next logical chapter following Of Faith, Power and Glory from 2009, which showcased songs of contemplation and forethought, including “Tomorrow Never Comes,” “Where There Is Light,” and “Defiant.”
Automatic is indeed, an apt and empowering addition to a soundtrack for world changing and shifting.
So when I come across yet another story of corruption, greed, and outright idiocracy that surrounds us on a daily basis, songs like “Radio” are what I’ll be pulling out to bring me back to center (and prompt me to delve back into previous VNV releases).
VNV Nation is currently on tour in support of now their eighth studio release, coming to Denver on Saturday, November 26 to perform at Summit Music Hall with Strantanz. A call to Denverites – can you please leave the Hot Topic outfits and coffin purses at home in the bag going to ARC? That crap is so last century.
November 25 – Salt Lake City – Avalon Theater
November 26 – Denver – Summit Hall
November 28 – Minneapolis – Station Four
November 29 – Chicago – Bottom Lounge
November 30 – Pittsburgh – Mr. Smalls
December 2 – Toronto – Phoenix
December 3 – Montreal – Club Soda
December 4 – Boston – Paradise
December 6 – Washington D.C. – 9:30 Club
December 7 – Norfolk – NorVa
December 9 – New York – Webster Hall
December 10 – Philadelphia – Trocadero Theatre
December 13 – Atlanta – Masquerade
