WL//WH Review: Music for Loners and Lovers in the New “Interiors” LP by THE VACANT LOTS [Fuzz Club Records]

The Vacant Lots, Chris Hogge Photography

On October 13, The Vacant Lots from Brooklyn released their fifth studio album “Interiors” through Fuzz Club Records. A full album of 8 brand-new tracks, including 2-3 anthems for the band’s legacy. It all sounds like Jared Artaud and Brian MacFadyen’s most visionary work yet and here they team up once again with Maurizio Baggio (The Soft Moon, Boy Harsher) on mixing duties, who also worked on the band’s last two albums, “Closure” (2022) and “Interzone” (2020). TVC has already made their mark in the alternative music scene, and it’s clear that they are continuing to grow and evolve as a group, steadily climbing to the top of the genre; minimal post-punk/synth-pop music which is often very touching and more often so groovy like you are in a live gig with them, as not only the music but also the urban situations narrated in their songs are…crucial.

I like writing songs you can dance or zone out to that duality of individual listening and music played in a crowd has always attracted me. A cross between the club and headphones. Music for loners and lovers.Artaud says

@chrishoggephotography

The first single to appear from the “Interiors” LP was “Amnesia” on July 17:

Alex Schipper is a master of taste. We worked together on some videos for our last album Closure. He’s a great artist to collaborate with and really gets our minimalist aesthetic. A mantra for the band is ‘through darkness, light.’ Alex translated that beautifully in the Amnesia video featuring Mateen Ismail, who really completed the vision.and again Artaud says

Great and timeless music by TVC and then again on August 16 came the following single “Damaged Goods” with an official video too; it is the album’s closing track and one utterly underground anthemic tune, yeah!

The whole “Interiors” album is like a stroll through the city, where many ‘episodes’ occur and many thoughts come to mind, just like in our everyday urban life. Our senses filter or do not filter the imprints of life within our nervous system. Some experiences are good, some are bad, some are fleeting, and some will remain with us for a long time, both in our memories and in the physical world on our tables and on our stereos. I enjoy listening to TVC‘s narrative urban music. In general, I like such bands that express their experiences and concerns in their own unique way, with a drink at the bar, they can share stories about the ‘situations’ they will face the next day and somehow, somewhere in our minds, the puzzle of life is getting completed. The music opens pathways in the asphalt and leads us to the club where we disappear, with joy.

That’s how the new album “Interiors” by TVC ‘behaved’ to me with all its metallic synths and blistering electronics, driven by disco-on-downers dance beats, lashed with gutter-rock guitar riffs, and icy detached vocals with evocatively concise and lacerating lyrics (in one breath all this sentence), and I literally love it already and put it on repeat. So, here is the “Interiors” LP by The Vacant Lots, turn up the volume and live loud!!!

Keep up with The Vacant Lots