Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
It is the sign of our times that the state of the world, the lack of hope, of trust and of desperation should place the vast majority of people into a pit of despair which is spiralling out of control.
When the Friday night crowd becomes the Wednesday regular, when the laughter seems just a little too forced, then it is surely time to worry, it is time to understand that the subject of mental health and social anxiety is not just a passing phase urged on by the press to sell papers, or a cry for attention on social media, it is a huge warning sign that an epidemic of collective burden has taken root and the poor girls and broken boys are paying for every mistake inflicted by an uncaring world masquerading itself as society.
Paisley’s art-pop quartet The Vegan Leather’s debut album Poor Girls/Broken Boys takes on the unease felt by many, and who find they have no name for the dread they feel and weave them with passion amongst the electronic vibe and dance floor atmosphere to produce an album which punches back against the powers that be which has taken the endless cycle of burden for granted.
The light of the disco can hide a multitude of sins, the glitter ball disguising the stealth attacks of anxiety attacks as the public plays a game with their emotions, side-lining the sense of unhappiness for the moment of gratification; it shouldn’t be like this, the full glare of light should instead investigate the panic, the fear and find a way to create a place where Poor Girls/ Broken Boys is a memory of the past.
The genre is about the vibrancy of the music highlighting the despondency we feel, mixing them, combining them in such a way that the listener understands the connection but knows that it is designed to inflame the emotions so that might find ways to combat the destruction around them; it is an atmosphere played out well by The Vegan Leather, and across songs and rhythmic beats such as The Knife, Unorthodox, Holy Ghost, Man Dies and Heavy Handed a series of empathy leaning thoughts appear and take hold of the conscious.
We have never been more connected, so why does it feel as if we are constantly fighting our battles alone; for the Poor Girls/Broken Boys, society needs to take a look at its self in the reflection of harsh light, not in the sabotaging effects of the glitter ball to hand.
The Vegan Leather’s Poor Girls/Broken Boys is released on October 25th via Midnight Pink/Believe Digital.
Ian D. Hall