Written by: Mike Dimitriou
In case you missed it, the British cult outfit The Venus Flytrap released their new Icon LP via Glass Modern Records back in September.
The Venus Flytrap started taking shape back in the late ’80s and since then, they’ve offered a cargo of colorful and multidimensional musical musings. They play a lush brand of new wave and post-punk all blended with synth pop and deftly added electronica. Because mythology, outer space and science fiction has always been part of the band’s aesthetic, their songs come across as groovy music for the imaginary films in our minds.
They were founded in Northampton by Alex Novak (vocals) and Andrew Denton (guitar, programming) in 1986 after Novak parted company with darkwave post-punk band Attrition and emerged from the same fold as Bauhaus, with Novak having attended art school with three-quarters of the band. In fact, it was Bauhaus’ Kevin Haskins who produced TVFs 1989 EP Rocket USA / Cloud 9 / Opium War and co-produced the Shedding Another Skin LP (1992) with Pat Fish (The Jazz Butcher) who also produced their Pandoras Box LP album (1991).
The new Icon LP was produced by Martin Bowes (Attrition, Pigface) and it’s nine sonically adventurous songs ranging from psychedelia to new wave/post-punk that comes with compact, steady sound and vocals that conjure imaginative stories, obscure facts and mythological futures. “Vitesse” is one of the two leading tracks of the album and it is a pure and joyful groove that’s a great introduction to this fabulous record.
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