It's now time for our 155th monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene, as we're looking at local punk quartet
Vanity First's self-titled demo
"Vanity"! Just to get this out of the way now, the band recorded and released this EP when still known just as Vanity, but they changed their name to Vanity First in early March, which is somewhat unusual to see a local band do so soon after putting out any sort of album. I'll use both names interchangeably here, for the record. Independently released on February 9th in a limited run of 50 CDs, "Vanity" features singer/guitarist Andrew Beggs, guitarist Mikhal Muto, bassist Nick McClelland, and drummer Keegan "Ljubov" McAllister. While the limited print run leaves current CD availability questionable at best (note that the band has not posted on Facebook in two months), you can stream the whole EP for free on
the band's YouTube channel in both
a full EP upload and as separate tracks.
With six songs running for a over 16 minutes in length, let's begin our review of the Vanity demo with the opening track,
"Hard Feelings"! The shortest song on offer, it opens with a solid drum intro from Keegan before launching into an upbeat pop/skate punk vibe and tempo that showcases Vanity's core sound well enough! Andrew's singing fits the genre, and the up-tempo vibe would be ideal to skateboard to, but I do think the guitar riffing is somewhat muted in the mix, and the stretch with backing vocals wasn't ideally handled. Fun opener to set Vanity on the right foot! Next up is
"Playboy Magazine", which Vanity First
actually re-recorded at Mission Control Studios shortly after the demo EP was released. Bizarrely quick turnaround to be sure! I'll focus on the original version here, but the re-recording obviously benefits from Dustin's production. This song has more of a laid back indie rock/power pop vibe, showing their diversity early!
Andrew's vocals are better suited for the punkier material than this, as they can get somewhat nasal by comparison, and again, I'm not a huge fan of how the backing vocals pair on this one. The song is solidly composed with good lyrics that tell a real story, but part of me does think they'd have worked better as a full on pop punk song, as the laissez faire verses didn't jive as well for me. Still a good song, but do check out the re-recording for a more optimal take! Third is
"Empty Home", which takes things into punk territory again, albeit in relatively straightforward format without a lot of variance to the song structure. Good driving feel with solid guitar work from Mikhal, but the variety and spontaneity of "Hard Feelings" is absent. Strong pure punk song at it's core, but there's not a lot here distinctive beyond that, though don't forget the relatively young ages of Vanity First's lineup.
The second half of the EP begins with
"Black Flies", which lets Mikhal really show off with a nice melodic guitar lick early! A slightly slower but still firmly rock-centric number, this has more of the musical variance I missed on "Empty Home", with lower register singing, solid drumming from Keegan, a strong guitar solo, and more of a 1980s rock feel than punk or indie that I appreciated! Return to form here for sure, and worth a listen for fans! The penultimate and longest song is
"White Ghosts", which opens with white noise and an ominous beep before the band proper gets into gear. The song proper is a fun rocker that is surprisingly punctuated by a late aggressive outburst featuring Andrew yelling in anger leading into another strong extended guitar solo by Mikhal, and it's a shame it ended on that because it felt like it should have went on longer!
"White Ghosts" built nicely and delivered in kind, and everyone performs well on it, but the echo on the vocals before they get intense was really noticeable here. Still, another highlight on this EP! Vanity (First) wrap things up with "Breathe", curiously choosing to end the demo with their acoustic ballad rather than with a bang. The nature of the indie demo recording is very prevalent here (especially from background hiss), and while functionally not a bad song, this feels like a one-take jam recording and again doesn't benefit from the backing vocal layering. It's a fine campfire song, but not an optimal EP closer.
So what are my final thoughts on Vanity's demo EP? I'd say it's a strong first step for this promising young quartet, but you can see why they already saw it necessary to re-record a song for it. Everyone in Vanity First showed some solid talents for both punk and beyond, with Andrew particularly shining on punk-inspired songs, Mikhal laying down some great guitar solos where needed, Nick delivering on the low end reliably, and Ljubov nailing some hard hitting drums along the way! The music on offer definitely ran the gamut beyond just modern pop/skate punk with elements of indie and metal on offer, which is a good sign for their future prospects, peaking for me with "Hard Feelings" and "White Ghosts". For things to work on.... the production quality is obvious, but this was always labelled as a demo. Beyond that, backing vocals never gelled for me in the mix, Andrew's singing on "Playboy Magazine" wasn't optimal, ...
... I wouldn't have ended the EP with the ballad, and "Empty Home" kinda just existed without showing a lot of what the guys could really do. Vanity First haven't updated their Facebook page in a couple of months, and with Mikhal posting on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group since, I'm hoping that this isn't it for them, as they're definitely a promising punk band capable of a lot more, and you can hear what they already bring to the table at the above links! I hope you guys liked this month's CD review, and look for our review of Chase Wigmore's new album "Sonic Apocalypse" next month, with weekend concert previews coming next! Thanks everyone!
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