EP REVIEW: Vulpes Vulpes

VULPES VULPES — Vol-Pez Vol-Pez
(Independent)

PETE WALSH reckons it’s worth saying “Vulpes” twice while avoiding a Pokémon association.

With a name like Vulpes Vulpes, you might expect some sort of an obscure reference to the cute and fiery Pokémon, Vulpix. Replace cute and fiery with dirty and urbane, and you’ll be closer to the mark.

Hailing from Sydney suburbs, the quartet tosses equal amounts of Brit-indie, neo-grunge and thick rock & roll into a paint mixer and ladle out swathes of indie rock over their EP Vol-Pez Vol-Pez. Sounding like a cross between Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner and a sober Sid Vicious, the drearily browbeaten vocals are often draped across tom rolls and high-energy riffs. Although there’s nothing game-changing about the band, their garage-indie sound is menacingly addictive and the swirling licks of the anthemic Complacency attest to this–but it’s the steely, sweaty, highly-strung chord progressions on Mirrorvine that really make the EP.

PETE WALSH is an ex-Rave contributor and vagrant writer, as well as a bit of a literati, music aficionado and coffee snob.