Vakili Band – Tannersville EP
The songs on this extended play disc are acoustically spare – but it’s all compelling the way the first Patti Smith music gripped a listener, the Swans’ Jarboe enthralled or even Nico startled. But Vakili (of The Vakili Band) is a good singer with character in her voice which isn’t something a vocal teacher can teach. It must be inherent in the spirit.
“Photograph” is poetic, with a serendipitous magic. There’s a folky weave in this musical fabric but Vakili avoids the trappings of that genre’s preachiness, its bread & honey lyrical passages that detour often into radical messages. These songs are well written & nourished & will blossom like flowers when added to a fine arrangement & full band effort.
Even the second track “Rocket” is filled with imaginative words that I once thought the early albums of Elton John possessed before he went pop commercial. There’s an angst in Vakili’s voice but she doesn’t use it to fabricate juvenile feelings. She whispers with a tight, seductive tone appealing to the ear on a quiet night with red wine, quartered apples & candles, filled with expectation.
Only 4 ripe songs on this casual, pensive, yet intensely luxuriant showcase that makes up Tannersville EP (Drops Sept 13/Independent/14:05) were produced & recorded in NYC by Lily Vakili & Reed Turchi.
“April Fools” is Gershwin-perfect as an easy-listening composition & has that old-world finesse, yet it’s not retro. It’s expressive & classy. Certain artists know what to say in a song, knowing full well the material needs to resonate with a stranger, with a listener & a reason to be interested in what is being said must be present. Or the music becomes background fodder. None of these 4 songs by Vakili is background fodder. None.
Ok, enough pontificating about how good Lily Vakili is, she is – when do I get a whole album?
Highlights – All
B&W image courtesy of Lily’s website. CD @ Bandcamp + https://vakiliband.com/ & https://www.oneinamillionmedia.com/vakili-band