Del Vertigo – On The Day That You Come To
Critical acclaim comes and goes in this industry, much as trends do, but in the case of Del Vertigo, it’s reasonable to believe that he’s going to have critics like me behind him for the foreseeable future. When listening to the new record On The Day That You Come To, it’s obvious that Del Vertigo takes a lot of interest in avant-garde theory, but I wouldn’t say that this is the most experimental work he could have recorded under this moniker.
There are shades of pop accentuation in songs like the title track and “Theres a Glimmer in the Thicket” that we’re neither expecting nor invited towards, but instead met with a repellent sense of destructiveness that becomes one of the more awkwardly beautiful aspects of this entire EP. On The Day That You Come To was arguably produced to give its listeners a bit of anxiety as we inch towards its ultimate conclusion, but much like the most compelling dramas you could indulge in on-screen, this is a collection of songs that will move you, challenge your artistic reasoning, and leave the name Del Vertigo burned on your brain for a good while to come.
It’s not uncommon for an artist like this to explore the depths of their sound more and more with every release their discography sports, but what Del Vertigo is doing here has more of a prerequisite compass than one might initially anticipate. He isn’t aimlessly wandering through the verses of “Obsidian Hills” or “In Dreams,” but instead using the soundscape behind him as a springboard through which to frame his most passionate emissions.
Emotionally charged even in abstract moments like “The Fall,” this is a player who seems intent on imposing compositional freedoms where there would otherwise be an unbreakable bondage, at least in the eyes and ears of most pop lovers, and it feels remarkably cathartic in nearly every instance here. I haven’t been able to say that for the vast majority of albums I’ve reviewed in the past few years, let alone an extended play that features no more than five songs. Del Vertigo wanted to let go in this release, and from where I’m sitting I would have to say that he does a good job of doing as much without losing sight of some stability within this material.
On The Day That You Come To is, in so many ways, a record that is all about personality – the personality of its star player, his collaborators, and even the songs on their own. This isn’t a work in formulas nor something that scholarly types are going to marvel over just on the strength of its artistic tent poles, but instead a piece that helps us to understand the man behind the music even more than it does the actual key narrative behind this five-part tracklist. To many, On the Day That You Come To will serve as a model unto itself, but for my taste, it’s simply a record you’ve got to hear before the year is over if you love true alternative song craft.
Pick up a copy of On The Day That You Come To on Bandcamp by clicking here.
