With tracks about turning into a sea creature and going insane online, the Melbourne post-punk band captures a very contemporary existential crisis
here’s a moment on RVG’s third album that made me laugh, then seconds later blink back tears. “They’re playing Drops of Jupiter, cause they never really knew ya,” Romy Vager sings – a genius rhyme – before the rest of the scene unfolds: “The room is so cold and dark / Your family are wearing masks / I can’t hear the eulogy /The stream is bad quality”. The kicker follows: “I don’t wanna see you go through a tab on Google Chrome”.
RVG is a masterfully economical band. Their debut album, 2017’s A Quality of Mercy, clocked in at under half an hour, with not a minute wasted. Over time, they’ve expanded into more ambitious soundscapes such as Photograph, the seven-minute closer from their 2020 album Feral – but for the most part, their songs remain short and sharp, cutting immediately to the heart of the matter.
RVG’s influences have always been clear – the dark plod of You’re the Reason recalls Joy Division’s moodiness, and the jangly guitar of luminaries such as the Go-Betweens and the Smiths are evident in RVG’s instrumentation, at once bright and melancholy.But there are new ingredients, too. Synths feature more heavily on this record: Nothing Really Changes culminates in a soaring climax recalling 80s new wave, and a subtle buzz is overlaid with strings on Common Ground – a deceptively calm opener.
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