A few days ago I wrote about Men I Trust’s “Organon” without realising I had done so somewhat recently. When I realised I decided to do another song from the same album (which can be heard here).

Nothing stuck out to me as something I wanted to write about so  I tried to think of something else. Decided to do VIQ’s “Illusion” a bit earlier today, wrote about it and not entirely fine with the result.

I like the song for its sound and melody but I don’t think it’s a good song. It does what it needs to do; it’s enjoyable but it feels like it was calculated to stick to a blueprint. I don’t feel good saying this because I can’t deny that there was work put into it, but it doesn’t offer much other than a cheap mood grab.

Some of that criticism seeped into this and I don’t think that was good as I wanted to go with imagery, some of which came through, but not enough.

VIQ’s “Vestige” is from Crystal Shores.

I hope you enjoy.

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Warm synth spells out a melody of coolness. It expresses something grandiose whilst slowly more comes in underneath. There is space and there is the sense of feeling shmick and stylish, almost. The beat is low and quiet but soon all changes whilst remaining the same.

The beat fills out and there’s more energy whilst other sounds shimmer and bounce back and forth. A calm and smooth sound noodles its way through and around, keeping that sense of looking forward with perhaps not a care in the world coming forward.

A bit of space and a few light touches carry it all on as this is a bit of a spaced moment that expresses itself with all the obviousness it needs.

A rush comes in and all the sounds drive on forward with a greater width, trying to keep that sense of cool going but there’s not a care in the world among this landscape that is as neon as it is not. It all seems to be a rush and perhaps a sense of thrill and soon it all pulls back to something quieter. A few more textures are better revealed and this is a moment of implied quiet before the climax.

Slowly among the questions that are easy to answer sounds build. A calculated pause to allow percussion to roll and suddenly the song resumes with the expected sense of climax, though it holds back from being as massive as possible. The sounds continue to drive on forward and keep their sense of easy reach stretching and pushing forward, and soon it all reaches a definitive note and the song ends.