Sometimes we like to go to Pitchfork and play the “judge the album by its cover” game with their reviews. That’s how we discovered Vetiver. And oh my, aren’t we glad that we did…
In case you were wondering, the word Vetiver refers to a type of fragrant grass that grows primarily in Thailand. In this case, Vetiver is also one of the best, most underrated bands flying under the radar right now. Anti-top 40 music fans and hipsters probably already know about them, but it’s our duty as shepherds of good musical taste to make this incredibly important statement: You need to go to iTunes or your local music shop or however you get your music, and download Vetiver‘s 2011 masterpiece, “The Errant Charm“.
With the end of summer rapidly cycling, and the beginnings of fall on our doorstep, this is an excellent time to get acquainted with Vetiver. Let’s review the facts:
- They formed in San Francisco in 2002
- They have released 5 proper albums
- They are pretty amazing
“The Errant Charm” is a beautifully ambient journey from beginning to end — it is the quintessential road trip album. Described as indie/naturalismo/psychedelic folk, it is hard to put a pin on where Vetiver falls in the spectrum of style. At points it’s all breezy, ambient electro-folk with steady strumming guitars and world-weary lyrics on “It’s Beyond Me”, but then it can shift into expansive, soaring up-tempo ballads about love on “Worse For Wear”. And then when you least expect it, you can swear that you hear a little dubstep underneath the poppiest of hooks on “Can’t You Tell”.
When they released “The Errant Charm” in 2011, they put together this album promo, which we think perfectly summarizes the album. Have a look:
We’ve been avoiding this post for a while now. The hipster in us wants to keep Vetiver all to ourselves, but that just isn’t possible anymore. So please, do us a favor: Download “The Errant Charm“, slide on your Ray Ban Wayfarers, and take a 45-minute drive along some back roads or along the coast or just sit in your backyard looking at the stars. And when you’re done, tell us that you don’t think this album is an absolutely awesome record…
Enjoy.
-B
Vetiver was never as freaky as its folkie collaborators Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom, and the band’s occasional dips into psychedelic riffage are completely absent here. They’ve been exchanged for a swirling electronic ambience, as on the opening track “It’s Beyond Me,” which halfway through transforms into Air-inspired, spacey pop. The shuffling tail-end to 2009’s Tight Knit provides the model for much of the rest of the album: There are Yo La Tengo-style lazy spells, drum machines set to “patter,” then abandoned to the surf, and gently lolling vocals that lean back more than they lead on. The boogie-woogie-boarding guitar and crisp piano of “Wonder Why” make the song a standout, right behind the embarrassingly “Kokomo”-like “Fog Emotion.” That track might be a misstep, but it’s a minor one that does little to dull another fine album by a band that rarely surprises, but always delivers.