It's Just Vanity - Here's What You Remember from a Coma (Cover Artwork)
Staff Review

It's Just Vanity

Here's What You Remember from a Coma (2010)

self-released


When the lead singer/guitarist of It's Just Vanity sings his first lines in "When I Was Fancy Too," he resembles a less developed version of Moving Mountains' Gregory Dunn. That's a comparison that gives you a rather clear idea of what style It's Just Vanity dabble in--a sound steeped in the '90s emo-indebted post-rock sense traversed by the likes of the Appleseed Cast, with plenty of interesting and unusually intricate guitar work helping set the sparkling atmospheres.

Here's What You Remember from a Coma often inhabits a more ambient territory, but it's often effectual and occasionally moving. Sometimes it gives the album a mysterious, quietly dark vibe, but at other times there's a distinctly aching feel. You can hear it, as well as some seeming Mineral influence, in the aforementioned "When I Was Fancy Too."

It's Just Vanity have no problem with getting a little bit noodly when the song calls for it, though. In the wordily titled "The Dream of Hearing These Words When Someone Really Means Them" (think these guys are Moneen fans?), there's a playful smattering of 'em before the guitars more resonantly sound off and anguished, layered vocals create some sudden tension. But they may not even take themselves all that seriously--there's a line in one song that goes "I could never pull the trigger, / but I'm gonna have to now, / on you." One might think it's a play on Taking Back Sunday's "There's No 'I' in Team" until you check out the track's title: "Forgive Me, I'm Blowing Your Mind."

With the really sharp but modest production, you can hear their vocalist swallow hard after breathily delivering lines in the subtly dynamic "I'm Frozen, You're Dead and I Love You"; it's a human touch that prevents the record from dabbling too much in pure post-rock surroundings. But you get those common, always enjoyable buildups anyway, the most impressive and effective coming in "Take It Easy, Face."

An impressive debut for sure.

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Here's What You Remember from a Coma