Endless Night, the newest album from The Vacant Lots, is finally here. This eight track album was created during the travels of dynamic duo Jared Artaud and Brian MacFadyen, the members of The Vacant Lots. The songs vary in length, some of them being only two minutes long. No matter the track length, The Vacant Lots still manage to fill each one with raw emotion. The mix of songs create a retro sound, but the group pairs it with a modern twist of electronic dance music, creating an all new tone generated from the past. The melody of the instrumental is minimalistic, which gives Artaud and MacFadyen the freedom to exercise their creative lyrical minds over top.
Each song incorporates instruments such as keyboard, guitar, and synthetic electronic tunes. The instruments create a positive, indie-pop mood, against the track titles and lyrics which are dark and hard rock-sounding. A great example of this is through the song “Pleasure and Pain”. It uses major chords to create a buoyant instrumental melody. The contrast between the positivity of pleasure and the negativity of pain is shown once the lyrics enter the song at around halfway through. The Vacant Lots pair a dark, mysterious, and interestingly monotonous lyric with a catchy electronic tune to create a pleasingly intricate sound.
While each individual song has its own distinguishable identity, the last track on The Vacant Lots’ “Endless Night” holds a special place in Artaud’s and MacFadyen’s hearts.
“Suicide Note” was originally planned to be a collaboration between The Vacant Lots and their punk hero Alan Vega, the artist behind the band Suicide. Vega was planning on writing the lyrics and recording the vocals for their collaboration, before he, unfortunately, passed away. Artaud and MacFadyen were able to find the vocals from one of Vega’s unreleased tracks that fit uncannily over the instrumental of “Suicide Note”.
The Vacant Lots don’t disappoint with their original, indie-alternative tracks and their incredible and aesthetically pleasing album covers. Check out their newest EP, Endless Night to hear a grand mix of retro and electronically modern tunes.
