Victor Shores
Photo Cred 📸: @frasiercrane
As you get older, and you're able to look back at the lengthening stretch of life behind you, there becomes more depth to your nostalgia. A taste, a smell, a sound- all can bring a sort of soft, glowy comfort to you and take you back where you were, a decade removed from a memory. Victor Shores’ newest self-titled album brings me to that space, connecting the threads they’ve been weaving since 2011.
“Canoe” is soaring and beautiful, an immediately stirring melody showcasing vocals both powerful and massive with beautifully driven instrumentation. The opening drums of “Bleach” are as spectacular as they are fun, joined in with a delightfully dirty bass and delicious guitar tones melding together to create an infectious track. “NES” is rollicking and bouncy with driving guitars and spacey drumming, with a fine showcasing of ranged vocals with scaling notes and demurely sung hopes of betterment. Single “Chromies” has spirited riffs and breathy bass filling out arena sized drumming charging into a chorus the size of Everest.
My personal favorite “Batman” is moody and hums with a firmly held chaos, speaking what many of us have felt I‘m sure, this pitted reluctance to leaving those we love and sojourning into that lonesome space where we lay our heads at night, echoing in the air with the lines I hate going home when I’m in my head / and I know / I just needed to see my friends again. If there’s one thing I can impress about “Drowning” is that it's the prettiest song I’ve ever heard where someone keeps talking about how much they feel like shit. A genuine call to try harder despite that unfulfilling layer of self-disgust, the tonal guitar climbs and lilts with a moody bass-line pumping on top of quick-wristed and easily arresting drumming. This album just rocks damn hard and makes it so obvious just how consistently good this band is. I still remember falling in love with their People EP and “Sports In General” right around the time I was getting into the scene.
To me, ‘Victor Shores” is as much of a homecoming as it is a long awaited meeting between old friends and just undeniable proof of how excellent their catalog is. If this is your first taste of their work I’d be remiss if I didn’t urge you to check out the rest of their output, as it is all solid as hell. It's good to have them back and we look forward to hearing more from them soon.
Physicals available through Zegema Beach Records & No Funeral Records
Checkout their Bandcamp here: Victor Shores
Writer : @letsgetpivotal
Editor : @just_reidz
12/19/22
