Send "Tom Vek " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 British songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Tom Vek popped up in the mid-2000s as part of a wave of clever, twitchy, studio-centric punk-funk acts following on the early success of the Rapture and DFA. He wasn't necessarily part of that scene, but he benefited from having a fashionable context, and so his debut album, We Have Sound, was a modest success. After that record, Vek essentially disappeared from the pop landscape as he went about setting up his own studio and gradually piecing together his second album, Leisure Seizure.Waiting six years to follow up a debut record is not usually a good move, but it has worked out well for Vek. Since indie music fashions have moved on since 2005, he no longer comes across as being part of a larger trend, and his idiosyncrasies are more apparent. He's dropped a lot of the post-punk tics of his debut, but his emphasis on rhythm remains, with nearly every track built around a crisp, precise beat. His compositions are neat and tidy; he cycles through textures and sounds but avoids clutter and unnecessary doubling of parts. There's a ruthless efficiency to his music that can be very attractive, but even at his best, Vek sounds like a producer just on the verge of finding his own distinct style. Vek's voice, often flat and heavily accented, is alternately one of the most appealing and most off-putting elements on Leisure Seizure. He's very good at affecting a petty, bratty tone, and this suits the bitter, confrontational character of album highlights "A Chore" and "Aroused". Vek has a limited vocal range, but it's obvious that he's put a lot of thought into how to play to his strengths and switch up his technique. At some points he exaggerates his flatness for effect-- for one particularly successful example, he drags out his syllables over the swinging beat of "We Do Nothing" to convey a sense of boredom. He's most compelling when he employs a sinister singsong on "A Chore" and the semi-rapped "World of Doubt", casting himself as something of an antagonistic presence....full text |
| Guardian |
| Electro whiz-kid Tom Vek all but disappeared after his hotly tipped but minor-selling 2005 debut; Facebook groups were set up to find him. It transpires that Vek was up to nothing more mysterious than trying to find a studio in which he felt comfortable, but his second album suggests he has also visited the slough of despond. There's an existential gloominess we'd expect from Radiohead or Pink Floyd. Comeback single A Chore is a spectacularly wounded break-up song; songs such as We Do Nothing offer Kafkaesque discourses on the futility of the human condition. Happily, he sugars the gloom with mostly celebratory tunes, fizzing concoctions of Orbital-esque clonks, synth whooshes and unusual arrangements. Nobody else writes songs like him. Alas, the twentysomething has a voice only a mother could truly love. His flat, discordant tones are appropriate enough for A Chore's anguish, but the monotone bark in the almost unlistenable On a Plate would be better employed selling papers....full text |
| Consequenceofsound |
| Tom Vek first crossed my radar during his one-night-only performance at the fictitious Bait Shop for a group of disinterested teens on The O.C. Mixing catchy, messy dance beats with elements ranging from lo-fi to pop, Vek’s music samples a bit of everything. But Vek, who first released We Have Sound in 2005, vanished with a prolonged hiatus. He mysteriously continued to promise a new release, but many doubted his return. Nearly six years later, Vek makes good on his promise with Leisure Seizure. Leisure Seizure gives insight into the man who has been missing from the music scene. “I’m a lost cowboy/waiting for the truth,” Vek declares on opener “Hold Your Hand”. It seems quite the contrary as Vek seems to have found his place with this release. Vek combines all the same elements of garage electronic rock that fans came to love on We Have Sound, but this time around he’s polished his sound. Where Vek truly excels is creating simple, catchy tracks with lyrics and beats that become ingrained in your memory. “We Do Nothing” is filled with brash bursts of percussion and a smooth breakdown featuring static and playful synths. “We do nothing with our time/you’ll have to listen now/that is all that I can do,” Vek repeats, perhaps instructing fans on how to handle his return. A lesson in spelling comes courtesy of “A.P.O.L.O.G.Y.”, swapping severe bass with frantic synths and an unforgettable chorus. A hiatus of such length leaves fans expecting Vek to deliver. Though his sound hasn’t changed much, it is clear Vek has matured. “Close Mic’ed” best represents this seasoned Vek: a gloomy track with soft vocals over an ominous snyth and melancholy backing beats. It’s unlike anything he’s done previously. How long before the next Vek release remains to be seen, but Leisure Seizure will be stuck in your head long after you quit listening....full text |
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