Déjà Vega : Personal Hell – album review

Déjà Vega : Personal Hell

(Paperhead Records)

DL / Streaming (Vinyl to be announced)

Available now

Winsford trio Déjà Vega (Jack, Tom and Mike) have just dropped their anticipated second album, Personal Hell to stream and download.

The band say they set out to write a more immediate record; “a more ‘pop’ record than the debut, adding synths to the sound”, which they have. Thankfully that doesn’t mean that they’ve veered too far from the ‘psych krautrock punk‘ (thanks Wayne AF Carey) from their self titled debut.

Only last August, at the Concert For John Hall, was I first introduced to Déjà Vega. That Sunday afternoon at the Ritz I was blown away by the power and dynamics of the band and who completely commanded the stage and had the audience memorised. I have been listening since. With Personal Hell, somehow, the band have managed to bottle the energy of the live set and delivered an album you will want to listen to with the volume tuned up to 11.

Fans of the band will already be familiar with some of the tracks which have been released over the last couple of years and established as part of the live set. Kicking in with It’s All Gone Wrong, you’re immediately hit with feedback, searing guitars, rhythmic, hypnotic bass and drums. It’s a trip that once started rarely lets up over the next 40mins. Singles Who We Are and Spitting Gas follow quickly, offering little respite. To be honest, the only time things really do calm down is on the psychedelic groove of Slow And Steady but it’s not long before things liven up again with recent single Harmonia. The synths the band have added on tracks such as Catharsis and Banshee certainly enhance the sound, offering a juxtaposition to the searing guitars, making it all sound, er, bigger. How much volume can 3 people make? That said, I’m not sure how he does it, but on Balancing Act Tom sounds like one man performing in a double drumming outfit, like The Fall’s peak period Burns and Hanley rolled into one.

I know other albums have been released today which have got some of the mainstream media creaming themselves about the ‘latest indie crossover’ but they’re looking in the wrong place. It’s a proper DIY act from the midst of Cheshire that should be getting the attention.

To support the albums release the band embark on their biggest tour to date during February

2nd Lexington, London
3rd Dead Wax, Birmingham
4th Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
5th Gorilla, Manchester
6th Nice N Sleazy, Glasgow
19th Jacaranda, Liverpool
24th Globe, Cardiff
25th Thelka, Brixton
26th, Bodega, Nottingham

The band have also will be hosting a Tim’s Listening Party on Feb 23rd on Twitter

For more info on Déjà Vega visit Facebook, Twitter or Instagram

All words by Iain Key. See his Author Profile here author’s archive or on Twitter as @iainkey.

Source: louderthanwar.com