Television Villain – ‘Television Villain’.
Television Villain – Bath, England, United Kingdom.
For our previous and “professional” review of the band’s last release – Click Here.
A band at the top of the Bath “list of bands to see” in the small but very active local scene, Television Villain recently released their debut full-length after the excellent but hard-to-find Signal Lost EP from way back in 2015.
The band’s release show performance was despite a few amusing hitches including but not limiting to the loss of the frontman’s socks, was both explosive and immersive as TVV moved through Punk, Post-Punk New Wave, warped Pop-tones and their own take on underground guitar music.
‘Bevvy’ is musically speaking a Punk song structure used by what came after. Cathartic, hearty vocals ride Post-Punk gloom, mid-tempo Punk-Rock drive and Post-Hardcore precision in a track you’d expect on a Dag Nasty release. ‘Rats’ falls more in more melodic Post-Punk tones with the band’s signature layered sound and addictively ear-worming guitar-tone always so notable. ‘Rats’ isn’t a song I personally would have placed to proceed ‘Bevvy’ in regard to its track listing but that has no lasting effect on the stellar song itself.
‘Searching’ from the first nano-second of its lowered Punk-bass and warped but also low guitar-tone is the love-child of the previous two tracks and allows the track-flow to make more sense. With sharp breakdowns cutting into a solo that forced me to awkwardly gyrate in my seat. ‘Searching’ continues to show a band with a penchant for heavier and more aggressive climes but with that melodic check-and-balance.
‘Stray Cat’ from its low-bass ebb to its playful yet urgent vocals (reminiscent of Hot Water Music’s Chris Wollard) and soaring guitar work, is the perfect pop-song relative to TVV’s output and a release highlight. ‘Adored’ on the other hand is finally the track you’d expect from band that have been plastering a particular aesthetic over their majoritively harder-music to this point via its emotive croons.
Interestingly, with the band’s newest member hailing from a more Pop-Punk background and with the band planning a string of releases taking different ends of their influences far away from their general sound, the pop-tones of ‘Voyeur’ make a lot of sense make for the band at their most easy listening.
Post-‘Adored’ Television Villain takes a turn for the calmer tones of the band more in regard to their musical aggression and drive while their emotive delivery, musicianship and in-depth song writing still rages on. ‘Neon Signs’ will pull on your heart-strings but also sits up there with the best on the album.
‘Betterman’ is pure Punk-Rock for a band so tainted by what came later, TVV take a clear influence from the gruff legends that are Hot Water Music in their most stripped down effort yet in a sound I was pining for more of from the very first play. – ‘ and I see my reflection and it looks like a ghost, and I’m just a facade of someone that I used to know.’
‘Smokey Rooms’ is another chop and change in style that the band have been brave to employ but with the contrast between the low bass-work, stellar drumming and crooning bluesy yet honestly almost-sexual guitar work in its own little world you soon forget any running order contention. Television Villain are talented musicians at the very least.
It is in the final parts of the penultimate that we see the band’s most aggressive and cathartic vocals yet that although somewhat out of place musically and likely would have been better on harder song, completely justify their own existence through their conviction.
The ironically softly-sung ‘Razor Tongue’ ends an album that through its skill and comfortability, arguably feels like a band with tenfold the experience as a cohesive unit that TVV in reality actually have.
In short they are good, very good, do indulge.
Find Them:
#StayFresh
