Whether The House that Vandebilt is a play on words of the Lars von Trier feature, The House that Jack Built, is completely unknowable. What is knowable though is that the music featured on this recent release from Sunderland-based band Vandebilt is great. There is a presence felt throughout that most bands are still searching for. To manage that on a debut, that’s just showing off. The House that Vandebilt is a showy album. A great one to mark a strong debut for a promising line-up, who provide anthems of hitting the town, painting it red and getting home in time for a bit of reflection.
Smart wordplay and lyrical waxing from Jack Wade are consistent in their tone and ranged in their style. A strong voice to pave the way for some excellent tributes to French house and the constant, moving tone that genre creates. Opener IGWYN is a tremendous turn which relies on a soul-fuelled charm, hitting through most of all with Dan Martin’s work on guitar. Baby is the best of the early moments though, a light and pop-styled track that leans into the influences well, but has deeper meaning lying in the lyrics. Like all good artists, Vandebilt has successfully encapsulated the breezy tones with thoughtful meanings. They are thematically similar but lyrically varied. Baby and Diana Ross may muse on the same subjects of needing love, but their presentation, their variation, is stunning.
Pairing that optimistic, upbeat tone with some infrequent rattlings of the mind and soul is a good blend for Vandebilt, whose messages are stronger than the house and pop riffs they rely on. Rather Be is the most obvious of those house influences, an excellent track that feels as though its spectacular lyrics are secondary to the mood and tone the backing instrumentals provide. Upbeat and crying your eyes out. What a blend. A fascinating mixture that steers The House that Vandebilt further and further toward being an essential album. Those still on the fence about whether to love it or loathe it will find themselves torn over Broken and Rather Be, two strong tracks that understand the influence of love on lyrics and the impact it will have for the listener. Its broad generalities are imitable, but it is the power of the lyrics, the tone of something so simple, that mark these tracks as leagues above the rest of love-oriented indie pop riffs.
There is a sense of place and localism to The House that Vandebilt, not just through the band remembering their roots, but in engaging with it. It helps if you’ve spent any time in Sunderland. Those sleepless nights out at Independent. What Vandebilt capture isn’t just the feel-good aesthetic of a night on the town, but the anxiety and self-doubt, the lower moments paired with the highs that preceded those morning cups of coffee and regrets of a thousand different experiences. End track Feel hits that feeling perfectly, tying all those experiences together with French house-inspired moments of brilliance. Uniquely structured, blissful listening from a debut that feels both refreshing for the genre and a step in the right direction for Vandebilt. Get it streamed. Listen in.
