Viv

Description

The second album from Californian rock 'n' roll band Spice expands their palette of busted anthems with a more visceral sound, distilled by years spent in the trenches of bands, breakups, and breakdowns. *Viv* is named after an earlier project by bassist Cody Sullivan and violinist Victoria Skudlarek, but also alludes to broader notions of vivacity, sonic, visual, and otherwise. Recorded by Jack Shirley and mixed/mastered by Sam Pura in Oakland, the album achieves that rare balance in the mix where each element is elevated yet distinct, with vocals, strings, and percussion each given the space to carve out parallel paths. Opener "Recovery" shows Spice at their stormy best, with surging drums and East Bay riffs skidding into a landslide of rapture, regret, and bruised melody, all culminating in Ian Simpson's poignant one-note vibrato guitar solo. Other tracks tap into the band's ramshackle pop potential ("Any Day Now", "Dining Out", "Live Scene") and their accelerated mode ("Threnody"), with detours into oblique instrumentals ("Melody Drive") and orchestral ballads ("Ashes In The Birdbath"). But what unites and ignites these songs across the different energies and arrangements is their specific sense of emotion. Brutality refines itself into reflection, drawing closer to truth, born from cold mornings, bad luck, and too many wrong turns. Waking up where you're not meant to be, living a life you don't recognize. The album closes on an endless narrative, always fighting, always slipping. Vocalist Ross Farrar speaks of "Climbing Down The Ladder" as a relapse song, like when you tell people you're fine while you're doing anything but. The pounding percussion marches under heartbroken guitars in an elegant downward spiral of defeat, delusion, and desperate hope, more dreamed than believed.