TInsel review on Divide & Conquer

The UK based musical collective Vegetables at Last operates in a different way than most bands. The members – bassist, guitarist and percussionist Carl Fox, vocalist and guitarist Paul Morris, vocalist pianist, organist and guitarist Simon Pickering, vocalist Anne-gaelle Simon and percussionist Adrian Carr – get together about once a month and just start jamming. In this way, over the course of about a year they make themselves a record. The most recent release from this way of working is called Tinsel, and it was released back in July.

The opening track on Tinsel, is “(La La) Leave” an Oasis-styled blues rock lead jam that roils and boils with a lot of energy and plenty of radio-friendly fuzz. The drone and the way they stretch the song out via other types of UK bands of this generation, the Charlatan’s UK come to mind, was to me a little bit of nostalgia but also another appreciation to a style of songwriting that still sounds as good today as it did then. But then again there’s plenty of this upbeat acidity that Vegetables at Last like to explore like they do on the fun-loving tracks like “Are You Scared?” and “Sometimes When I’m Drunk” a quintessential look at how people tend to look a little better the more booze you slug down.

Another caveat to Tinsel is when Anne-gaelle Simon takes over the vocal duties as she does on “Plectrum Avalanche” which gives the band a shift in tone and really helps to even out the appeal of the record. Even the music, which seems a bit spritelier and sun-struck with a shimmery pop as opposed to the blues-centric following of the previous offerings.

​Vocal duties switch up again on “There Should Be” an exciting rocker that falls somewhere between early U2 and David Bowie. Once again, the band shows that they are not about to be pinned down and that they are capable of pulling off an array of genres while still keeping things tight enough to keep it from sounding like a composition.

Tinsel is definitely a record that draws on the rich history of English rock from the past two decades while also sounding wholly original. I often find that this sounds easy to say but often difficult to pull off, but Vegetables at Last do it flawlessly.