The third album from New Orleans quartet Video Age is out 7th August from Winspear
The great thing about music reviewing is that sometimes you are given an album to listen to by respected peers to review honestly and you may find yourselves gushing to keep people happy or to tick over. Throughout the global pandemic, a lot of albums have become very reflective tomes in terms of the current social climate. Songs become paeans to lost times, missing friends means more in these times of loneliness.
Then an album can come along that can sweep you off of your feet through its sheer infectiousness and joie de vivre. A work that reminds you that it is not all doom and gloom in the world; remember it is still August, it is still summer, it may not be the best time or advisable to go to the beach but culture and art allows us to enjoy it nonetheless on our own or in a social bubble if possible.
This is reflected in the album by New Orleans four piece Video Age, who in their third album, have released not only a love letter to 80s synth pop and yacht rock, but easily one of the best summer feeling albums of recent times.
Shadow on the Wall (the first single) provided the promise of the effortless pop groove that could be possible, this was followed by ‘Aerostar’ a bouncing bubble of synth about the now forgotten thrill of travelling.
Last week the band released their third single, Blushing, a song that is both romantic and endearing. With a video that is a throwback to those early 1990s hand held videos, remember PM Dawn’s ‘Set Adrift on Memory Bliss’. It was a reminder that for all the vanity and the look at me memory of 80s pop, there was an underlying richness of subtlety and sensibility which Video Age have scavenged for and come up trumps with.
An album that I cannot recommend enough, one for fans of all things with power shoulders, blazers up to your elbows and flock of seagull haircuts. The best of 80s pop wrapped up in a ten track album of gorgeousness, you need only look at tracks such as ‘Maybe Just Once’ and ‘Sweet Marie’ to hear echoes of even Brian Wilson coming through.
A hearty 9 out of 10 for this album
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