Gothic Theatre
Viva Voce
Anita and Kevin Robinson recently moved from the tightass South to ass-loose Portland, OR, and it shows on their new LP, Lovers, Lead the Way (Asthmatic Kitty/Amore!Phonics). Once a fairly straightforward guitar fuzz driven modern rock band a la Mazzy Star, Viva Voce is getting pop kinky.
The duo’s artistically liberal proclivities have always been there, and became especially apparent with their solo projects (Anita — Fraulein, Kevin — Francis) released last year by Velvet Blue Music and the Cut & Paste Collective, but a full collaborative manifestation of their potential voice had yet to be realized until the wonderfully odd and smooth Lovers.
With the usual smart pop craft references to Frank Black, George Harrison, and Brian Wilson undergirding much of the tunes, the self-produced Lovers fucks with the entire catalogue of popular music (from Holly to DJ Shadow), and succeeds in making substantial, emotional, dark, and romantic collages that are not just listenable but addictive.
It’s not that Viva Voce’s past records were bad, it’s that they were often stiff and somewhat redundant and dishonest (but maybe that is bad). Kevin and Anita, especially Kevin, are weird folks, and they weren’t letting their weird out to play in the music.
They were also suppressing their sexuality, and with it some of their humanity, but leave it to Portland to free that bird. Anita’s torchy voice finally looses the sultry vixen hiding behind the puritan curtain, and the result is a different kind of purity — a wholeness.
