Review: Tom Vek @ Strange Brew
By Aditi Hrisheekesh, Co-Deputy Music Editor
Indie sleaze is back. Well, at least its wavering spirit is trying to be. Messy hair, vintage tees, gritty lo-fi soundtracks, and a flamboyantly unapologetic attitude ripple through the media – the likes of post-punk icons LCD Soundystem, Fontaines D.C. and more sweeping through. However, a full revival is stilted by the current digital age.
A decade after the release of his album Luck, Tom Vek brings this idiosyncratic world of synth-pop and indie-electronica to the stage. His music is tattooed with a definite sleekness, yet it is fashionably rough around the edges. Rooted in the post-punk revival, Vek's experimental art-rock felt uniquely dissonant yet it felt like there was something missing.
Opening with ‘Pushing Your Luck’, Vek lyrically portrayed a sense of inertia and dissatisfaction in modern life, while the final song of the encore, ‘Trying To Do Better’, rung out like a mantra for those treading water in the cycle of self-improvement culture (‘What I should do is change it up/ Defeat my comfort zone/ Await for the wrath of human nature to strike down’). The idea of being stuck in a vicious cycle of wanting to move forward yet being unable to do so was highly relatable whilst also sonically impressive.
The music never allows you to get too comfortable — jittery synths and fragmented beats birthed a dissonance that lurked beneath the squeaky clean surface of electronica. Even the more pop-driven songs, which you couldn't help but dance to, were coated in Vek's iconic deadpan vocals, brewing a sense of alienation that touches on the technological coldness of the modern world.
At one point, Vek addressed the crowd: ‘Do you ever feel like a fish?’, an absurd but fitting question, as he launches into ‘Slippery Fish’ (a song as elusive as its title suggests). The spiralling synths and the quirky, almost conversational vocals reminded me of post-punk contemporaries ‘Talking Heads’ (especially their 1983 track ‘This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) when Byrne started to explore electronic music more). His sound was also reminiscent of Gang of Four and also Beck's later works. However, he doesn't simply wear his influences on his sleeve – he wields them with his own endearingly awkward charisma.
Yet, despite his precision and craft, Vek’s live performance didn’t quite hit the mark for me. After a few songs, the droning vocals and impressive, yet sometimes overly crafted synth layers began to feel repetitive.
Some songs seemed to blend into one another and the stillness of the lighting on the stage (until the encore) felt a bit stilted. The sonic awkwardness that works so well in Vek’s recordings translated somewhat monotonously live – it seemed as if he was reluctant to fully push the envelope in front of an audience.
However, this is not to say the performance wasn't enjoyable. While his experimental style teetered on a fragile territory that felt like keeping the audience at arm’s length, it seemed to fit with the enigmatic persona his music embodies.
Perhaps it’s this uniqueness that kept him on the fringes of the post-punk revival, overshadowed by contemporaries like LCD Soundsystem and Bloc Party. Still, something more visceral felt missing.
Despite this, Vek’s music offered a comforting space, a sort of ‘bedroom pop’ in its unconventionality — music to clean your room to, or maybe music to be introspective to in a quasi-philosophical way on a random Wednesday night.
When ‘Sherman (Animals in the Jungle)’ (a personal favourite) played before the encore, the atmosphere in the crowd properly ignited, a solid mix of die-hard fans and indie heads bopping along to dizzying vocals and disillusioned lyrics for a bit of controlled chaos. Maybe indie sleaze will never fully be back, but it feels like a step closer.
Featured Image: Aditi HrisheekeshWhat is your favourite Tom Vek song?