When you hear an artist on the radio or a studio track first, you always have a just a little bit of doubt about whether you really heard “them”, or a DJ Frankenstein breathing life into something that would have been better off six feet under. But when you start from an impressive live performance like this one, you know the producer won’t have to do anything more than capture the talent that is clearly already there.
Hailing from Columbus, Ohio, and playing together since high-school, the boys of Playing to Vapors released their debut EP Identities in August of 2012. While the single from the live video shows a definite maturity in the time since it’s release, Identities is in no way lesser than their most recent work. The six tracks or ambient alternative rock are filled with rift driven songs, incredible syncopation and interplay between the instruments, and a dizzying precision on the drums. From the very first track, you get the clear impression that thought went into every rhythmic, melodic, and instrumentation choice.
My personal favorites are the dark, sarcastic Beast and the all-too-catchy Fire Up Ahead, which features the same kind of sustained, vibrato and vocal strength that makes Matthew Bellamy legendary.
This impressive EP was followed up in November 2013 with the release of the single New Direction. And now in March ’14 we are graced with the next single, Fanatic.
The production and song writing continues to progress, with a slew of effects and instrumentation that is quite frankly, really impressive. Fanatic continues the trend of rift-driven, syncopated tunes, but with an originality and growth that distinguishes it from Identities, and makes it impossible to pigeon-hole a “sound” for the newest releases.
I will certainly be on the lookout for part three.
More about Playing To Vapors on Facebook, Reverbnation and Bandcamp.
