VOLA - "Applause of a Distant Crowd" Might Be One of the Best Albums I've Ever Heard

[@inthedream9127]

In Los Angeles they opened with Vertigo then shut the lights off, the band appeared and went into Alien Shivers.... it was a religious experience

[@coreyclip1]

That sounds so sick

[@SemiMono]

8:11 the way the different snare drums are played in different ears, and Adam goes from ear to ear is one of the best uses of stereo isolation I've ever encountered. It does tickle the ears. One of my favorite elements of Vola is how melodic they make their drums. It's incredible. 24 Light Years also has incredible drums. He may not be the most skilled, but this is why Adam is my favorite drummer.

[@madeofwax92]

I think it's fair to say he is extremely skilled. Adam plays with a level of finesse and precision that is hard to find in the genre. He and Baard Koldstad are similar in that regard to me, although Baard is a bit flashier.

[@penguinpower314]

i like you mentioning the weird song structure in Applause, they have a tendency to do that all over the place. Ending songs on bridges, or like in Alien Shivers, never even having a bridge (just intro riff/verse/chorus/verse/double chorus/intro riff), or going through multiple verses before getting to the chorus over halfway through the song, like in Smartfriend. Whaler effectively only has one verse, but with a hilariously large bridge section. They manage to write relatively short accessible songs that are just structured a bit weird, and often I don't even notice for a while

[@coreyclip1]

It's genius

[@BadHatNZ]

nice, love this one. be curious to hear your thoughts on their debut if that ever pops up in the queue

[@pigeonsarecameras]

3:16 man was cooking with that "I will praise your chin"

[@nat2r]

Better than Witness though?

[@coreyclip1]

I'm still thinking about that...

[@nat2r]

@@coreyclip1 haha I feel that

[@MoreGarlic-bc1kd]

To be honest, yes… it’s unbelievably beautiful

[@Joseph-R]

Yes. Funnily enough, if you go back to some of the Applause videos, you'll see my whining about how it wasn't as heavy as Inmazes, but then editing the comment a day or 2 later saying I was dumb and this album is amazing. Personally, I love this album and Inmazes a bit more than Witness. There's something about Witness that feels too.. constant. Like most songs sound kinda the sameish once you start getting to Freak and Napalm. 24 light years is still one of my favorite VOLA tracks ever, but Applause and Inmazes are a bit stronger of albums to me.

[@coreyclip1]

@@Joseph-R I'm editing my witness reaction and I make some of those same points