Released:
Rating:
VANT’s message is impossible to resist.
Label: Parlophone
Released: 17th February 2017
Rating: ★★★★
Something you’ll already know about VANT: Mattie likes to run his mouth. Not as a gobby oik, you understand. The man just has things to say. Important things. What, when the band first burst onto the scene, may have looked like earnest artist ‘politics’ has quickly become scarily pertinent musing. In a post-Brexit, post-Trump world, VANT are merely reading the leaves.
But that’s not the thing you should be taking as note. While so many artists who consider more weighty topics find themselves dragged down into boorish drone and preachy turn-offs, VANT marry their fire with solid gold bangers. They’re a voice that doesn’t just want to speak, but needs to connect to an audience young enough to still make a difference. A fan base who haven’t given up and accepted the status quo, but are willing to challenge authority at every turn.
The fact that ‘Dumb Blood’ is willing to live up to its name, then, only works in its favour. A forward thrust more about primary instinct than the small print, it’s brash and bold enough to blast through the noise with its own din. Though the topics underneath may matter, they’re delivered with a sense of fun, or at the very least a refusal to be run down by the world.
From ‘The Answer’ and its colourful lyrical flourish [Yeah, you know the one – Ed], through to the rage against the 9-5 of ‘Do You Know Me’, some of VANT’s debut album may have been ‘around’ for ‘a while’ now, but collected together it becomes a statement. A flag planted in the ground.
It’s not just about what you say – it’s about how you say it. VANT’s message is impossible to resist. Stephen Ackroyd
