Vireo - the great golden gloom (Self Release) [Folktronica / Alt-Pop]
- The Slow Music Movement
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
You have to love a bit of mystery - according to their overly succinct bio, Vireo are "a real music band" and, well, that's it, although the album line notes let slip that the main members are Suzanne Gomes and Chris Beaulieu, with LP cameos from Anthony Capozzi on drums, bass, bells voice and sounds, Abi Gray on violin and Jacob Ryave on vocal harmonies.
Mystery aside they're certainly got a pretty cultured folk threaded eclectic sound going on. Apparently this collection of songs was recorded in various bedrooms between 2021 and 2024, since when they've polished it nicely and finally revealed it to the world in November, and I'm happy to report it's been worth the wait.
There's certainly some multi-instrumental, vocal and DAW ability between the main pair; they've managed to weave quite the good natured, pleasantly microdosed folk fusion sound together. "Big Elsewhere" sets a warm gentle tone for the album to follow - low gravity vocals and lysergic synths, lightly anchored by sparse percussion and 20th century, borderline yuletide bells make for quite the dreamy, spacey opener. The over eagerly titled, "icanicanican" initially ups the folk quotient by dint of its prominent banjo but is soon surrounded by a glowing dream pop world.
A surprising club thump launches the aptly named, "cloudgazers", the beats pulsing beneath a lysergic folk pop haze, leading the way for the shimmering childlike playfulness of "popchop", before the Beaulieu's quivering voice cuts through perhaps the most folktronic outing of the LP. "Catching Minnows" is a barn hoe down for teens who don't know what folk music is yet, but don't forget the leftfield acid-folk of "start at the door" the rock opera minimal lovechild, "must thunder" and the trippy folktronic finale and LP title track, "the great golden gloom". It's a fine album that sits happily between folk, electronic, dream pop and 60s sun kissed surfing psychedelic music like it's the most natural thing in the world.
Playlist Companion
Find Vireo in the Slow Alt-Pop Playlist.