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Van She

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V is the debut album by Sydney 4 piece Van She, a boldly adventurous, thrillingly modern trip into the barren landscapes of moonrock, thoroughly danceable guitar pop, and even brushing on (gasp!) prog rock. It's the sound of a band taking what they've done before and pushing it off the edge, of a band that's leaping at the stars and been caught mid-leap, an act that's made a record with everything and nothing to do with any notions of trends or currency. Above all V is on the surface, simply fun, catchy pop songs, while below, the album is full of secrets, signs and symbols . Sticking two fingers up at the detractors and aiming to set the imaginations of fans alight, Van She have crafted the record no one expected them to make but everyone's been waiting for. V is a record for which the seeds were sown some time ago, following the release of the Van She EP in 2005. That EP spawned a couple of minor hits in the shape of Kelly and Sex City, saw release in not only Australia, but the UK and US, led to the band touring all three territories extensively and saw them develop the Van She Tech remix and production side of the band. 2005 and 2006 saw the band on the kind of touring schedule that's to be expected of a hotly tipped new band in Australia, and writing new material was confined to small bouts here and there in between remixes, national and international tours, and the barely retained day jobs. In short, it wasn't working. Come 2007 and it was time to get serious about pulling together this debut album, and the band packed up their Surry Hills studio and relocated it and themselves to a small farm house a couple of hours south of Sydney in Berry. 2 weeks were spent short circuiting the old country properties power, pretending to be sponges and almost losing their mind on acid, teasing their blue haired engineer, haunting the whole of kangaroo valley with their late-night jamming and actually writing a bulk of the songs that were to make up V.

The band then made the trip to London to record the album at the famous Konk Studios. Van She spent 2 months with acclaimed UK English producer, Jim Abbiss (Massive Attack, DJ Shaddow, Artic Monkeys). The outcome was a beautiful, confident and spacey modern rock album. From the poignant honesty of the lead single Strangers, to the pure escapement of Virgin Suicide and blissed out rock joy of Cat & The Eye; everything is done with the typical Van She fervor. V lays out indications of the past with the youth-anthem Kelly to the evidence of what's to come the with glint disco that is Talkin'. In looking at what influenced such a complete debut, lead singer Nicky sites everything from directors such as John Hughes and Sophia Coppola to cheesy American high school love stories, new wave to psychedelica and all forms of sampling inspired by 70s Krautrock and 90s pop. Obviously the result is a journey that buzzes at every corner.

Busy men of late, Van She have spent the majority of the past 6 months in promotion of the album debut playing the support fiddle for Daft Punk, Pheonix, Pnau, Sneaky Sound System, Operator Please & The Bravery + launching their own hybrid Van She live / Dj Party Tour. Now comes their time to shine with this breakthrough debut LP that will be revered by one and all. Unashamedly wearing their influences of French pop and shoe-gazer on their sleeves, Van She's music is oh-so-sexy future vintage at it's best. The album release coincides with Splendour In The Grass, which will be followed by a full-blown national and regional headline tour. Not to rest on their laurels, the band will also play a headline national / regional tour following album release & have just been announced as part of the national Parklife festivals.
Enjoy.