Three years after their last studio album, Velojet are now reporting back with their new album “Panorama” (Schönwetter Records)! In the past three years the four band members have undergone an impressive development. Back from a reflective trip in a ’66 hippie bus that took them from Italy and Corsica to Thailand and India, they now sound a lot more mature, melancholic and profound. Clearly you can’t go on forever as an always cheerful, good-humored indie party band. As we all know, every party night has to come to an end. “We were so far away, but never closer to ourselves,” sings vocalist, guitarist and band leader René Mühlberger in “The Sea is the Ocean is the Sea”. This is an extremely exciting new facet of Velojet and is evidently highly appreciated by fans and critics. Currently Velojet’s song “Cold Hands” is ranking on the top of the FM4 charts, the charts of Austria’s biggest and most favored alternative radio station.
In December the band will present their new material on tour in Germany and at the Belgian Glimps Festival in Gent (Saturday, 14/12/2013).
The songs of the new album are framed by dreamy and effective instrumental tracks, which open up a whole new cosmos of beautiful melodies. Psychedelically tinged, the opulently arranged sounds alternate with intimate, sparsely orchestrated ballads. The album was produced by Magnus Henrikkson from Sweden, who made a name for himself as the drummer of Moneybrother, and is responsible for the wonderful balance between vocals, instruments and effects on this album. The first single release “Angeldust” clearly set the tone of the album’s new claim. The album intro impacted by organ sounds and acoustic guitar is followed by a striking entrance of the rest of the band.
As a climax, an epilogue is served with strings and wind instruments, before the final act suddenly ends with almost nothing but vocals. Hence, this album is far away from the Strokes-influenced indie rock sound of the first albums. In general, the new songs are a lot of things, but can definitely not be categorized in conventional categories. For this album conventional song structures were blown up, instrumentations expanded and experimented with Pink Floyd-esque synth sounds.
The whole soundscape of the album sacrifices a bit of rawness and energy, as it is by far not as rampant as the former albums. However, in this case, this doesn’t matter and is not necessary, because the current album feels as if it is supposed to be different and to gain new ground in other fields with new perspectives.
“Panorama” is a wonderful new album that surely marks a turning point in the creative work of Velojet and therefore definitely deserves the highest recognition.
Jakob Lindsberger
(translated from German)
Link:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velojet
Upcoming Shows:
Check artist website for international concerts.