French psychedelic lo-fi shoegazers Victory Hall made one album in 2009: The Dull Commando's Merchandise. It made the band's main songwriter and singer Julien Pras a minor celebrity at the time, but it took the band 12 years to come up with a follow-up, The Someday Herald, a record with 18 short songs - quite a lot of them last just over one minute. It is a collecton of snapshots from everyday life, with domestic hassles and breaking news as equal partners.
Imagine the Beach Boys and XTC joining forces for a lo-fi experiment with top shelf melodies, using only barebones studio trickery for a trip through late '60s psychedelica and '90s shoegaze. They hop on for a wild ride by Switching Cars & Changin' Flights and embrace doubts with Face Value. They invited three guest vocalists to broaden their scope and Helen Ferguson (Queen of the Meadow) steals the show with Golden Times, a song that co-wrote with Pras.
Victory Hall:
Julien Pras: guitar
Hugo Berrouet: bass
Martial Jesus Solis: drums
David Lespès: guitar
Helen Ferguson: vocals on Fairytale Sky & Golden Times
Emily Jane White: vocals on Confusion
Ben Pleng: vocals on Wait For The Crew
The Someday Herald is released via Tiny Room Records (vinyl, cassette). Digital is pay-what-you-want.
Tracks:- Fairytale Sky
- Miss Chief
- Face Value
- Engaged
- Golden Times
- Oh Cult Leader
- The Burning Slate
- Start Anew
- Switching Cars & Changin' Flights
- Fairies Turn
- Flaming Barry
- Confusion
- Right A Wrong
- Predatory Birds
- Only One
- Windshield
- Wait For The Crew
- Sad Eyes