If Vice Device has any musical vice, it’s
dissonance. The dark synth-pop group employs it as much as any Neue
Deutsche Welle-loving band should. The real energy on “Fractured
Desire,” the opening track of the band’s split EP with Philly’s Void
Vision, comes from the analog synths, which slightly detune on the
off-beat. “Even Blind” is another ace post-punk number, the tension of
the bassline building and then breaking as vocalist Andrea K screams
through her own reverbed voice. The dark tone carries over well to the
Void Vision side. The only thing stopping “A Version” from flying like a
bat out of the hell of 1980s French coldwave is the occasional guitar
shredding in the background. Void Vision tends to get weirder as the EP
progresses, eventually closing with a cover of Queen’s “You Take My
Breath Away,” which comes off like a collaboration between Jean Michel
Jarre and Grimes. None of Queen’s breathtaking harmonies make it into
Void Vision’s version, but as with both sides of this split, few sonic
corners are left unexplored.
SEE IT: Vice Device plays Rotture, 315 SE 3rd Ave., with Arctic Flowers, Industrial Park and DJ Luke Buser, on Thursday, Sept. 26. 9 pm. $5. 21+.
