The Daily Spin, May 24
Vansire | The Modern Western World
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
If you want to suggest an album, good news! You can do so right here!
Album: The Modern Western World (2022)
Artist: Vansire
Link:
A lot of what I said about yesterday’s album applies here, too, except Vansire manages to follow through with what Peach Pit could not.
With a golden-hour sense of dusky homeliness, Vansire take an album of soft rock and transform it into a charming framing of escapism, touching on MIdwest roots and the desire to see a wider world (something I myself am very familiar with).
It’s soft music, the sort of sound that eases past you without disturbing your own space too much, and in that, it tends to get a little lost. It’s the double-edged sword of albums like this, distinguishing themselves enough without becoming disruptive, and that’s a tightrope that for all their abilities, Vansire are yet to fully nail down.
Where I must give them increased credit is that by keeping songs short and switching up the play from the front to the back of the album, there’s a pretty significant diversity that helps keep my attention - though the production is wont to let things fall away, giving individual moments their opportunity to shine as this album does is enough to pique and hold my interest.
Rating: 8.1/10
Best Tracks: Vivienne; A Long Drive Back
Worst Tracks: Yoohei FM