Written by Maria Arroyo
The garage-early rock band, Virginia Trance, releases their new album, Vincent’s Playlist, today. Making up the eclectic band is Scott Ryan Davis, Chris Millstein, and Jimy Seitang who create a “poignant, earnest haven of yearning songs.”
“I had the idea to make a record for some songs that I had been hovering around,” Davis says. “I had the intention of honing a more personal sound which, in the end, translated into straightforward pop tunes with a rough edge.”
They recorded Vincent’s Playlist at Second Base Studio with RJ Gordon. The trio says “the songs unfolded as naturally as they were conceived; they come tumbling out easily and without beating around the bush.”
“High” is their first song, which pulls a lot of influence in their strong rock sound. The clear guitar parts they added were authentically catchy. Virginia Trance says it best when they describe this album opener to be a “scene of throbbing riffs dueling with fuzzy, feedbacking-driven guitar fillers, taking you straight back to noisy, garage jam summer days.”
A focal point of the album is hands down “Some People.” It has an amazing feel and I resonated with the song on a deeper level, which in turn made a more relatable musical adventure.
photo credit: Teddy Davis
Showing their grungier side is “Between You & Me” Again, there were times where I couldn’t make out the individual instrumental parts because they mushed together, but the sections that were clear, I really did enjoy.
My favorite song, hands down, is “Hello Lou Reed.” Which is largely due to the horn section they introduced. It really smoothed and rounded out their sound, and added another layer of diversity that I think the other songs were missing. This became a huge turning point for me, and this is where I really started to align myself with the album.
The band describes both “Hello Lou Reed” and “Sway” as songs that “create a gauzy and lush atmosphere of psychedelic jingle-jangle reveries.” “Sway” definitely kept with that same groove and after the day I had, I needed something to relax my nerves.
“Radio Broke-Down” is another feel-good song, which is one of the reasons I really respect this album as a whole. While I do love a good emotionally layered creation, I really could appreciate the straight-down-to-business approach. They know exactly how to capture their audience right away, and I really love that about this album.
“Mary Cassat” is a neat little song with a retro-like approach and a great guitar riff. Lastly, closing up the album is “Between You & Me #3” which in all, is just a very satisfying ending for a well-put-together album.
I really love that these songs were good lyrically, musically, and they got STRAIGHT to the point. I can’t lie, I was in no shape to be listening to a 15 track and each-song-is-7-minutes kinda album so thank you for making Vincent’s Playlist an absolutely gratifying experience!
Connect with Virginia Trance
Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram | Apple Music
