Even if Afghanistan is landlocked, we’ll settle for a Victory at Sea. If you are racked with paranoia from this week’s State of the Union speech, go to the Black Cat and relax to their sultry and desolate sounds of this quietly captivating Boston indie band. This three-piece band that has toured the world like an armed force whose mission is saving indie rock?they tour nearly nonstop.
Victory at Sea emerges from simple beginnings: Way back in 1994 when Mona Elliott of Spore, then performing her own songs solo, hooked up with Swirlies singer and guitarist Christina Files, who had offered to contribute her drumming. Mel Lederman, veteran of various Boston bands, was later invited to play bass. Initially a part-time endeavor, the three became a full-time working entity by 1996. Over the next two years, the band released two singles and an EP on the Villa Villakula and Magic Eye labels. Their full-length debut, The Dark is Just the Night, followed in 1999 on Slowdime Records. By the next year Files had quit the band, so spirited upstart Fin Moore got the call to arms and took over the drum seat. Their superb new Carousel, which sounds like it was recorded in one take in their Cape Cod basement, was released on vinyl earlier this year, but the album is now out on CD.
Like the previous recordings, this one is certainly not over-produced, yet still has a world of creative energy. Carousel builds with tension and sets a mood immediately. When Elliott starts singing, the mood and the feeling escalate. She has a voice you will appreciate. It doesn’t sound like she’s been classically trained. You get the feeling she learned to sing in a basement playing her guitar. She’s not trying to impress you by showing off her vocal chords. Elliott has something to say, and she does it in a very straightforward way.
Victory at Sea creates a sound that is as morose as it is beautiful, as stunning as it is depressing. Mining deep psychic strata, the trio skillfully exposes raw nerve to dim light, knowing when to musically tiptoe into trauma as well as how to break through with sonic ferocity. In this music-as-commerce world, they can almost sound too raw and real. If you haven’t already fallen victim to the twin sirens of derivative song and rock gloss, you should find Carousel utterly seductive, in turn warming and chilling in its depths. The record is a happy, lonely sound corked inside a bottle floating on the sea. The more you listen to these anti-pop songs, these lullabies for the shopworn, the more you want to tune out anything sleek on commercial radio and contemplate the intent of such lyrics as, “I built an igloo in the middle of our street / It made me happy how the walls kept in the heat.” “Lean your head back,” Elliot sings in “Carousel,” one in a string of asocial-wonderment anthems that somehow keep drawing you back.
The latest word is that Victory at Sea has begun the process of recording its third full-length album for their label. When they visit the Black Cat, the band is likely to play some of this new material. In addition, the live shows are where the true aquatic antics of Victory at Sea are revealed. Apparently, Moore pours water on his tom-toms and it spatters all over as he plays his rolls. Reason enough for you to check out this maritime success.
The Black Cat is located at 1811 14th St., N.W.
