I've been meaning to write something about Zoey Van Goey for some time now. I discovered the Scottish indie pop band close to a year ago, and really fell in love with their debut album The Cage Was Unlocked All Along, but never got around to writing about it. Now that they've released their sophomore effort, Propeller Vs. Wings, I figured it would be worth covering both albums in one post.
The first piece of information you might want to know about Zoey Van Goey is that Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian produced their first single ("Foxtrot Vandals"). Now, Zoey Van Goey are hardly Belle and Sebastian sound-alikes, but like Belle and Sebastian, they play indie pop music that I would describe as, well, rather charming. Both bands are also from Glasgow. So if you like Belle and Sebastian, you might want to check out Zoey Van Goey.
The Cage Was Unlocked All Along was released in 2009. When I put together my list of favorite albums from that year, I had not yet heard of Zoey Van Goey. Looking back now, they would in fact occupy second place on that list; the album is that good. It's hard to name standout tracks; the songs are almost uniformly very good from start to finish. This is impressive for such a young band; also impressive is Zoey Van Goey's ability to vary their sound from song to song and excel in each. Witness "We All Hid In Basements," containing a heavy guitar part near the end of the track that would sound right at home on a post-rock album. It's followed right up by the beautifully dreamy "Two White Ghosts," and then the more straightforward but incredibly catchy, handclap-laden pop of "Foxtrot Vandals." Clever lyrics, lush instrumentation and girl/boy vocals add to the irresistible nature of Zoey Van Goey's music. The Cage is a fantastic debut that indie pop fans should not miss.
After such a strong first album, I was very much looking forward to the followup. Propeller Vs. Wings picks up nicely where its predecessor left off. In general, it's more of the same sort of charming indie pop. Kim Moore's vocals are even stronger on Propeller than on The Cage; she especially shows off her vocal pipes on "Escape Maps." All in all, though, I have to admit I'm slightly disappointed in the album. Don't get me wrong, it's very good, it's just hurt by how great its predecessor was. There is what I would consider a mis-step on third-to-last track "Robot Tyrannosaur" (The Cage's weakest track was also in the third-to-last slot, but "Nae Wonder" was a much smaller mis-step comparatively.) I don't want to focus too much on negativity, though, as the album is well worth listening to. And while "Robot Tyrannosaur" has lyrics that are a bit, well, dumb, amusingly affecting lyrics abound on other tracks, such as "You Told the Drunks I Knew Karate":
I do the dumbest things for you
Why do I do the dumbest things for you?
I almost broke my collar bone
I didn't care, you were the most exciting thing I'd ever known
I go back to that word "charming." I think that's the best way to describe Zoey Van Goey's music. It's also consistently catchy, fun, and at times beautiful. I very strongly recommend The Cage Was Unlocked All Along, and if you like that album, definitely check out Propeller Vs. Wings as well. Each album has a free track available on Amazon:
The Best Treasure Stays Buried
The Cake and Eating It
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