My new favourite album! An incredibly good record from independent artist, Vaughty. It has a kind of dystopian theme but with a strong hope that people will realise their similarities more than their differences.
I enjoyed the sound of this album, which had hints of Gary Numan, Recoil, Depeche Mode, Tears for Fears and even, I think, ABBA. There are ten tracks:
‘Black Dog’ – an atmospheric snarling synth piece.
‘Children of Abraham’ – a catchy reverb-laden pop song with a strong hook.
‘Sleeping Dogs’ – a piano-led ballad with wonderful chord progressions.
‘Esmeralda’ – a bittersweet piano ballad which builds into a rousing crescendo.
‘Bottle’ – a powerful, driven song about reaching for alcohol.
‘Being Human’ – a perfectly-executed contemplative piano piece.
‘Scarred Inside’ – an anti-war song with haunting vocalisations like the chant of lost soldiers.
‘1984’ – featuring Cherry Ballard, an Orwell-inspired plea for humanity to prevent this dystopia.
‘Let Me In’ – beginning and ending with heartbeats, this is an equally heartfelt ballad.
‘Live to Make it Better’ – an earnest, positive song with fantastic harmonies.
If you love electronic music, piano, great melodies and want to support independent artists, I highly recommend you check out Vaughty’s Dark Society, on his own label Aggro Monkey Records. It’s available to purchase in digital, vinyl and (autographed) double CD formats. The CD includes a disc of seven remixes; the ones I like best are Elektranaut’s of ‘Children of Abraham’ and Andy Marlow’s of ‘Scarred Inside’, but they are all very good and most notably the legendary producer Gareth Jones has remixed ‘Bottle’.
Vaughty aka Vaughn George is a composer, producer and coach who is particularly known for his fun and knowledgeable videos about electronic music. Please do check out his website for links to his music and more.