| As anyone who frequents the oft-horrifying world of Internet message boards can attest, attention spans are on the decline. People are becoming so accustomed to blitzkriegs of buzz that it’s actually possible to witness a movie being discovered, hyped, oversaturated, backlashed and forgotten months before it even hits theatres. The sell-by date on pop culture is often yesterday.
So when Austin, Texas’s Voxtrot made it four years into their career without releasing an LP, it’s understandable that fans got a bit anxious. The band’s three EPs set the blog world alight with their blend of twee tunefulness and the urgency of early Brit pop. But every mention of the band, no matter how effusive, always held the caveat "they don’t even have an LP."
"I think people want the album just so they can see it reviewed on Pitchfork," says Voxtrot’s songwriter and vocalist, Ramesh Srivastava. "That’s why people can’t wait for the albums. Because with an EP, it’s hard to make a determination about a band. But in this weird, fucked up day and age in which the buzz surrounding the band, or the criticism of the band, or the chance to have your own little platform to criticize the band is more important or more focused on than the music itself, I’m sure an EP is less exciting for people. It doesn’t really give them as much to pick at."
If Srivastava comes across as angry, he isn’t really. After all, he’s clearly pleased with – and a little shocked by – his band’s success, which has seen it selling out shows across the continent, from L.A.’s El Rey Theatre to Sneaky Dee’s in Toronto. It’s more that he seems baffled by a music press that requires a band to release a full-length album before it can be taken seriously, and then moves on to the next fad in less time than it takes to spin the disc once.
"It’s weird now, because nobody buys music, so I’m not sure how much the LP matters," Srivastava says. "An LP is different because it doesn’t have to be as immediate. It’s not just a couple of singles flying at you; it should be something that’s kind of thematic, that works together as one thing. So I think it’s still important, but I’m not sure how much the buying or non-buying public really thinks so."
One listen to Voxtrot’s self-titled LP, released in May on the Playlouderecord label, is enough to tell that Srivastava means what he says. The album isn’t short on hooks – "Stephen" is a bouncy piano ballad that’d do Paul McCartney proud, and "Kid Gloves" manages to make the phrase "I’m a tireless bore" sound almost anthemic. On the whole, though, it’s an album that takes its time to fully reveal its charms, which has led some critics to call it a disappointment. Srivastava has learned to take the criticism in stride.
"You just have to think about that percentage of listeners that you see at the show that don’t really have a bad word to say," he says, "not because they think the band is perfect, but because they’re thinking of the band as a band, not of the band’s cultural significance within the digital age. You have to just think about that group of listeners, and focus on that." |
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