Ground Control Touring

Those who clocked Abe Vigoda’s transition from 2006’s debut Kid City to 2008’s startling tropical-punk “Skeleton” should know the LA quartet aren’t ones for repeating themselves. To Skeleton’s hot-hot-hot template, they now add glassy shards of ‘cold wave’ pop, with synthesisers, sequencers and altogether broodier beats. Scorching temperatures, icy currents… CRUSH is a thermal column of vertiginous brilliance!

But let’s not get bogged down in categories. Just as Skeleton was difficult to define, Crush is a similar collision of sound, another helter-skelter joy ride through four boys’ private party. Even so, there was a thought process behind this new surge. In 2009 Dane Chadwick replaced drummer Reggie Guerro, introducing a new style of regimented beats as well as other musical ideas to the table. “More than just rhythmically, Dane helped with melodies and most of the electronics on the album,” says vocalist Michael Vidal.

Meanwhile, guitarist Juan Velasquez had already posted the fact he dug UK dreampop and goth. To which Vidal adds, “My favorite kind of music is instantly nostalgic and emotionally confusing. And reverb has always been a big part of our sound. We were definitely inspired by cold wave and minimal wave stuff, as well as Arthur Russell.”

From the pell-mell pop of “Sequins” to the New Romantic crush of “Throwing Shade” and the title track’s MBV scree, Crush feels a long way from the Smell Club band scene of AV’s roots. For one, they’ve added so much emotion to their sonics, to which the album title bears testament – crush meaning both the infatuation kind of love and the act of destroying something… Crush is released 20 September on Bella Union records in the UK and on September 21 on PPM in the U.S.