New album from Kirkcaldy musician that John Peel would have appreciated
Kirkcaldy based musician Vann Vendetta created his solo project through the long, lonely hour of lockdown.
He saw this as an enlightening time producing complex electronic but melodic music and some already have been released under the collective name of The Fountain Of Freedom. This gives the music no boundaries and by some carefully planned videos has extended the creativity further.
Behind this mask, Vann is 27-year-old Nathan Mitchell who sees this as his outlet playing all instruments and producing the master mix in his home studio. While being influenced by the likes of Nirvana, The Doors and Pink Floyd the sounds are unmistakingly new.
A gifted guitarist and keyboard programmer I also hear shades of Syd Barrett and aspects of Gong and Can. DJ John Peel would have loved this with its unpredictability and groundbreaking originality.
The new release is a full album called Synthetic Horizons with 14 new compositions and three covers available this week. Taken as a whole we hear a well-constructed concept worthy of further exposure. His command of harmony vocals is impressive as is the range of instrumentation throughout. His take on Autobahn becomes a mix that would challenge the creators Kraftwerk.
Vann’s release schedule began in 2020 with the experimental album Deep Music for a Shallow World. The following year saw the release of the album Swimming Against The Trend and two singles plus a remaster of the first album.
The Vann Vendetta EP was released in 2023 along with three further singles before Kings Theatre Unplugged in 2024 featured the acoustic set from the Kirkcaldy venue. Last year the Vann Phetamine EP was surrounded by three further singles on social media before this daring new works this week. He told me that being a studio project the process of playing live is impossible and therefore has only had selected acoustic performances. The Synthetic Horizons album is on CD, Apple Music, Spotify, and Amazon Music from this weekend and furthermore it is completely free.