“Trepanation Party”
from the single Trepanation Party
2009
iTunes
Voxtrot evaporated from the world in 2007. Facing somewhat absurd and overly righteous backlash from the same community of bloggers and indie kids who buzzed them in the first place, the band just kind of disappeared. We were left with weird 5,000 word blog posts from the lead-singer, written in solitude and anxiety in Berlin. They referenced “new material” but was it a solo record or something involving the whole band?
As SXSW descends on their hometown of Austin, Voxtrot seems determined to return with a relative vengeance. I say relative vengence because this is a band whose previous dominant influence was early Belle and Sebastian. But “Trepanation Party” isn’t that at all. It has thumping, immediate drums and a riff with a decidedly ominous behavior and quality. The vocals are familiar but the synths are foreign and cold. I guess they’re supposed to sound that way. Part of me doesn’t get it yet. Part of me thinks this isn’t what I wanted. But part of me didn’t go try to find myself in Berlin. Part of me has no idea what this band has been doing for the last two years. So, Voxtrot, welcome back. In my book, go ahead and make something that sounds like it could go on M83’s last record. It’s your world, kid — we just live in it.