VNV Nation
Transnational
Anachron Sounds
I couldn’t tell you the point at which I fell out of love with VNV Nation. Without wanting to seem cynical (or worse, condescending to those who are still fans), I generally view the project in the same light as a high school girlfriend; briefly, intensely, they seemed like the most important thing in the world and when I look back now I see them through a lens of nostalgia that lacks any real emotional resonance. Oh sure, when I saw them at Kinetik a few years back I got a little teary during “Solitary”, and I’ll dance to “Joy” or “Darkangel” if the mood strikes, but I’d chalk that up to me getting sentimental in my old age more than anything.
At least a part of my disconnect from Ronan Harris and Mark Jackson’s work lies in how formulaic they’ve felt since the Matter and Form era. Admittedly any of the last three albums doesn’t seem really awful if heard in isolation: they’re just kind of rote. Inspirational pseudo-spiritual lyrics, big trance arps, maybe a little crib from Shakespeare here or there – these are all things VNV have done for yonks, but the charm has worn thin. Their new record Transnational doesn’t buck that trend even slightly, and while I found a few moments enjoyable, it’s nowhere near good enough to shake the creative inertia the band has been gripped in since the mid-2000s.
Lest you think me too jaded, I’d offer that I want to enjoy a new VNV Nation album. Aside from the obvious reason that I don’t waste my time listening to things I expect to hate, the goodwill they built up with me in their prime (a period I think ends about two thirds of the way through Futureperfect) will keep me checking in with Mark and Ronan, possibly indefinitely. Hell, I was actually pretty taken by the slowly ascending build of opening instrumental “Generator” and its transition into the inspirational pleas of “Everything”, where Harris begs the listener not to give up hope because “it’s always darkest before the light”. It’s not an original sentiment by any standard I can think of, and the uplifting arpeggios and pads aren’t the freshest either, but it still works for me: VNV does anthems, and that eyes-cast-skyward-face-lifted-to-the-sun feel has carried far worse songs than this one.
Sadly the momentum generated by those two songs doesn’t carry Transnational much further. “Primary” plays on the same space-age lyrical tropes Ronan has been toying with since “Genesis”, but in service of an underwritten and by-the-numbers track that fails to achieve the lift-off its themes would imply. “Retaliate” buoys matters with its syncopated drums and classic VNV bassline, but the shot in the arm only lasts for its duration: dopey trance instrumental “Lost Horizon” is toothless and bland, and dull ballad “Teleconnect pt. 1” feels aimless. With the exception of the passable grind and tweaky synths of “Aeroscope” (another indicator that the guys have probably been listening to some techno of late) everything plays plays out as a variation on what preceded it. Quite literally in fact, with the record ending on “Teleconnect pt. 2”, a double down on the maudlin feeling of part one with equally sappy results.
I’m being hard on Transnational, and I’m sure some folks will think unfairly so. VNV Nation have always connected deeply with their fans. Making inspirational music that is nominally about triumph over adversity will tend to do that when executed with a modicum of skill (and lets face it, some degree of shamelessness). If you’re one of the folks who hasn’t ever had their faith in Mark and Ronan shaken, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the album and I don’t begrudge you for doing so. And while I think it’s pretty mediocre, it was at least nice to have a moment like “Everything”; even a bitter cynic such as myself can be carried away unabashedly on occasion.
Spot on nailed my sentiment too. I wanted to like it, but Trans National sounds like it was produced in a VNV Factory, not nation. When they tour in my town (fingers crossed) I’ll be there and love it. VNV will always be on my playlist. I have immense love and respect, but Ronan and Mark, on your next record, surprise us. Put down the arpeggiator and step away. It’s a crutch you shouldn’t need; it’s atrophying your creative muscle.
I have been looking forward to this album from the moment it was announced, and that as not being a real fan to the band, but what a disappointment it was… With an album entitled Transnational, you would think something great, something majestic.
After their last album Automatic, which was filled, in my eyes at least, with a bunch of good melodic typical strong VNV songs that made the album in overall a good one, I was convinced that this band was still able to make good music for years.
But now I think, with Transnational, they have spawned a disappointing piece of work that hardly contains a good song that I would place on a personal “best of” or that I would call in one breath with the better songs from Automatic or Of Faith Power And Glory…
Oh yes, I can listen to it; it doesn’t start too bad after all with a usual instrumental opener Generator and a not too bad song Everything, followed by Primary. Also the song Retaliate they gave away as a prelistener is more or less ok… And even those songs are just good to listen to sometimes, but even more, I found that all what follows is so saltless, so missing something, so much looking like B-side tracks that didn’t make it to Automatic. They look like left-overs that were once again put through the computer to mangle up some songs for a complete new album… The problem is a bit personal though; I don’t have it so much for instrumental songs, but again, VNV Nation proved before that instrumental songs can be good too (Legion, Electronaut, Photon…). But on this album, except for the opener, the instrumentals sound more like boring waiting tunes for a busy telephone line, while the variations by the double song Teleconnect is not much better.
I had exact the same feeling years ago, when the fantastic Futureperfect was followed by Matter & Form. This album was also a letdown, instrumentals included, however on later times I learned to like songs as Arena, Chrome and Perpetual. But the album never made me happy, and I am afraid this Transnational will never do either.
No, I was more happy with Covenant’s Leaving Babylon.
Regards, TimeZero.
The song ‘Beloved’ popped in my head this morning and it was around ‘Futureperfect’ and ‘Matter & Form’ that I lost interest in buying their music. I thought I can’t be the only one disappointed and stumbled on to this review.
I loathe the song ‘Chrome’ intensely. Maybe it’s a cliché but I think the music changes when a band notices their own success. Or maybe a reliance of softsynths ? Sometimes I wonder when tools are invented that makes composing easier does it lead to better music ? (Amazed at what artists did to circumvent technical limitations. Ever see the 12 track tape loops for the making of 10CC ‘I’m Not in Love’) ?
I read somewhere that the computer or hard drive holding the contents of ‘Praise the Fallen’ crashed and it had to be done over. I’ve assumed that this was actually a better outcome. For the last few albums there seems to be a formula or creative rut, heh, VNV Music Factory ?
They still put on a great live show and I’ve seen them probably more than any other band of any genre although I wish Ronan hadn’t giggled in almost every song at the last Amphi Festival in Cologne. At least he was serious for ‘Further’.
Retaliate had me so excited, but yeah, the album was a bit of a letdown. Matter + Form was the last really good VNV album in my opinion. They’ve had good songs since then, but their “spark” has become more of an LED.