I’m sure that there are more recent reference points to be applied but the ones that jump out at me, and this is probably a reflection of my own musical tastes, go way back. If you took the anti-rockist, anti-punk, dirge-disco sound of PiL and added the sonorous yet sultry vocal of Siouxsie Sioux, then you would at least have a starting point for the sound that Vonamor makes.
But anyone can reinvent the past and Take Your Heart, despite its echoes of classic post-punk sonics, is all about where things go next rather than where they have been. It’s a strange song, and strange is always a compliment in my world, strange in that it has wonderful stomping infectiousness but is anything but a pop song, it swaggers along with the sort of attitude and energy that you would expect from the rock fraternity but again, it is far too special to be labelled as a rock song. It is far from what you would call punk yet snarls in a way that makes such bands pale into insignificance.
It is the songs chameleon nature, its ability to shrug off any and all labels that journalists like me try in vain to stick on it, that is its real charm. It is spacious and staccato, energetic and aggressive, anthemic and aloof. But where does it fit in on the musical family tree? Who cares! Let’s just be thankful that we live at a time when such music as this and bands like Vonamor exist.
