by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Back in early months of 2016, David Vassalotti, best known as guitarist and founding member of Merchandise, released his fractured and experimental solo album, Broken Rope. The album was an “all bets are off” kind of deal, a mix of cinematic granduer, fuzzy power-pop, and searing noise. The album took different shapes with each subsequent track but Vassalotti’s dynamic guitar work was the glue that held it all together. Three exhausting years later, he returns with Guitar Dream, his second album for the ever influential Wharf Cat Records (Palberta, Public Practice, Sediment Club). This time around, Vassalotti has a new focused vision, adapting the softened post-punk of his main project to his own songwriting nuances.
Due out on January 25th, the album’s second single “The Lines Between Us” opts to take a breezy atmosphere and play it tightly wound and perfectly executed. With obvious nods to The Cure and The Smiths, Vassalotti brings new life to the washed out guitar sound, each note reverberating into it’s own oblivion, ringing out until evaporating. There’s a great deal of texture with layered acoustics and his naturally romantic croon. As he sings “so good luck trying to burn all the bridges we’ve built,” you get the impression that some bonds are made to last.
David Vassalotti’s Guitar Dream is out January 25th via Wharf Cat Records.