This one managed to slip through the net but is easily deserving of a listen almost two months after it was released.
Vinyl Floor (Thomas Charlie Pedersen and Daniel Pedersen)have been here a couple of times previously but not since 2022, and, separately, Thomas in 2023. Back then we discovered that they were billed as being exponents primarily of progressive and experimental indie rock, even symphonic rock, but what I heard on both occasions I would classify more in the way of 1970s Brit-Pop for the most part at least.
And pretty good Brit Pop at that.
But that isn’t the case with this closing and title track from the album ‘Balancing Act’, which came out on 27th February.
The album, as its title suggests, is about trying to find some cohesion in this mad world, searching for beauty and meaning while drowning in a maelstrom of chaos, treason, insecurity and false promises. Not to mention fake news of course.
A world which, indeed, seems to be out of kilter.
You can’t really craft a protest song – for that is what this effectively is – out of Brit Pop themes and in ‘Balancing Act’ Vinyl Floor adopt a prog rock format which I found to be quite representative of 1970s Genesis in the song construction, the metre, the piano, the crashing guitar/drums outro and especially the lyrics.
In particular the lines here “They say life ́s a balancing act/They ́re all full of shit” reminded me of the ‘Willow Farm’ section of the epic ‘Supper’s Ready’, one that has been interpreted widely as referencing the England of the time as a mental asylum, the constituents of which could not possibly understand each other’s point of view, never mind adopt it.
And so, here, “Some are born to sweet delight/Some are born to endless night.”
It’s quite heavy stuff lyrically and you might want to listen several times before it will start to make its mark on you.
‘Balancing Act’ is out on Karmanian Records.
Find them on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vinylfloorband/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vinylfloorbanddenmark/
