If I had to listen to one decade of music for the rest of my life, it would be the 80s. What’s not to like about Depeche Mode, The Cure, New Order, Psychedelic Furs, early U2, etc.?
According to Voyager One’s MySpace page, some of their many, many influences include The Human League, The Cure, Talking Heads and The Smiths — all excellent 80s bands. That’s why I thought it would be a no-brainer to review the Seattle band’s latest album, Afterhours in the Afterlife.
Yes, I could hear the influences listed above, including some not mentioned, but in all, the effort was lost on me.
For example, the first track, “Here,” has a clear Moby influence, but where Moby succeeds in creating dance/techno, Voyager One’s attempt quickly diffused into a mess of sounds that promptly gave me a whopping headache. There should be an advisory on this album: If you’re prone to headaches, don’t listen to it.
After my headache dissipated, I continued with track two, “The Future is Obsolete,” which I did enjoy (although anything that didn’t give me a headache would have made me happy at that point). The track reminded me of rave party music, and it had a techno sound with clear similarities to Depeche Mode and New Order. It also had some really cool reverberation/blown speaker sounds, which I do like (I’m a big fan of Son Volt, so a preference for that sound is a prerequisite). Alas, like track one, it was about 90 percent music and 10 percent lyrics, so it’s not so much a song as it is simply music.
Maybe it’s because I had yet to hear a Voyager One song, but track three, “I Remember Everything,” quickly became my favorite on the album. The first true song on the album, “I Remember Everything” echoed strains of the Psychedelic Furs and, again, Depeche Mode.
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