Please note this is an old page and Fly Global Music has now moved. Please follow this link and search for the entry in the new site.

Viva Voce (as in the Italian, vee’ vah voh’ chay) is the sound of Kevin and Anita Robinson, who are literally miles away from their label-mates, Tunng (who released one of the albums of the year with Comments Of The Inner Chorus). Having said that, their album is not as scary as the album title would suggest.

They are a strange mix of Monkees meets Pixies. Particularly on the catchy new single called ‘From The Devil Himself’. Out now on limited edition coloured vinyl, it contains the line of the album title, “gonna get your blood sucked out”. I defy you not to sing along to that one. Another in the happy clappy upbeat vein is the opener ‘Believer’ whilst ‘So Many Miles’ is the long psych-feedback guitar solo Byrds tribute offering. As ever, Hectic is a sucker for the brass section on ‘So Many Miles’ and add to that the avant-garde break-down at the end — it’s a winner.

‘So Many Miles’ is the longest track on the album and is so different compared with the shortest, the ‘graveyard’ instrumental of the strangely entitled ‘Bill Bixby’.

When Anita takes over the lead vocals (as on ‘Drown Them Out’) we get a folkier feel and when mixed it up with that guitar feedback (again), ‘Faster Than A Dead Horse’ or ‘Helicopter’ the duo go on a musical pop-indie mystery tour. Staying in the sixties, they also recently released a 7” with their version of Tim Buckley’s ‘Pleasant St.’, which would have been good to have included on the CD as a bonus track.

I admit that if they weren’t signed to Tunng’s label, I probably wouldn’t have bothered on with this album. To get a taste of The Pixies side of their persona, try ‘We Do Not Fuck Around’ which is a free download off the Full Time Hobby site at the moment.

Reviewed - Viva Voce - Get Yr Blood Sucked Out (Full Time Hobby)
Catalog#: Release date: 21 Aug 2006
Tracklisting:
1 - Believer (3:09)
2 - When Planets Collide (3:50)
3 - From The Devil Himself (3:22)
4 - Drown Them Out (4:06)
5 - Bill Bixby (1:16)
6 - So Mnay Miles (8:22)
7 - We Do Not Fuck Around (5:49)
8 - Faster Than A Dead Horse (4:12)
9 - Special Thing (3:11)
10 - Never Be Like Yesterday (4:31)
11 - Helicopter (4:39)
12 - How To Nurse A Bruised Ego (5:03)

Links:
www.fulltimehobby.co.uk
www.vivavoce.com
MICAH P. HINSON / VIVA VOCE - Yard of Blonde Girls / Pleasant St. “A 7” outing for two of the songs from the recent Tim/Jeff Buckley cover album ‘Dreambrother’, both Micah P. Hinson and Viva Voice do a good job of not offending the fans - delivering covers of ‘Yard of Blonde Girls’ and ‘Pleasant Street’ respectively in a style which prefers to dust their contribution over the top as opposed to gut it and start again.”