Viva Voce – Viva Voce Loves You

Viva Voce Loves You – Viva Voce

By Chris Peken

Married couples are taking over rock. Think Arcade Fire or our own Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson. Viva Voce are Kevin and Anita Robinson and they have kept the home fires burning with four studio albums in nine years. Viva Voce Loves You is a compilation of tracks from their first three hard-to-get albums as an introduction for local audiences. Shin’s front man James Mercer is a fan of their “shoe gaze psch pop” with the living shit beat out of it – and when the bouncing bass, chugging guitars and hand-claps of the opening Wrecking Ball kicks in you may feel like joining him. Think The Breeders, Yo La Tengo or The New Pornographers. From the Devil Himself takes sweet pop melodies and sixties garage psch guitar into the new millenium, and manages to yet again sneak those hand-claps in before you can say ‘Phil Spector please don’t shoot me.’ Not afraid of the Pink Floyd comparisons they trot out The Centre of the Universe – floating pig anyone’ Spread a little bit of love.

*** 1/2