Versing – 10000 – Album Review by Killian Laher

Versing are a band from Seattle, but rather than channel that city’s grunge legends, the band aim for the fuzzy delights of Sonic Youth, who cast a long shadow over Versing’s debut, right from the slightly off-kilter guitars of opener Entryism.  Offering features a buzzing, siren-like indie guitar hero riff which would have made these guys very popular 25 years ago.  But it’s Thurston Moore and co who are the key influence on the album.  Songs like Tethered, Violeta and Long Chord are fantastic rock songs, but heavily indebted to the Thurston Moore side of Sonic Youth.

Elsewhere, By Design and In Mind add a dash of Pearl Jam and My Bloody Valentine to the SY template while Vestibule compares well with newer fare such as Protomartyr, with lashings of fine guitar riffs.  There’s quite a lot of this, at 13 tracks one or two of them could probably have been dropped without losing anything.  It sounds very like a band determined to show every trick in their armoury and hold nothing in reserve.

Not a particularly original sounding album, but some good raw material here, and if the band can outgrow their influences, there could be considerable potential here.

Track List –

1. Entryism
2. Offering
3. Tethered
4. Violeta
5. By Design
6. Vestibule
7. In Mind
8. Long Chord
9. 3D
10. Sated
11. Survivalist
12. Loving Myself
13. Renew

Tethered