Bookended by two of their most expansive tracks, the third album from the Brooklyn trio sees them stretching the boundaries of their lo-fi Spectorist template. Share The Joy is an album that gathers momentum; opener ‘The Other Girls’ features an introspective lyric set against an epic backing that evokes a homespun atmosphere in keeping with the knowing primitivism of the disc’s cover. The track rolls along for around six minutes, as their signature lush harmonies meander around a fragile, mildly discordant melody.
Lyrically, the theme of bittersweet longing permeates the album; the post-folk ‘I Heard You Say’ striking a heart-rending melancholic tone, while the insistently catchy ‘Dance (If You Wanna) is the disc’s ‘moving on’ song. At their best, the Vivian Girls have the ability to create songs of remarkable delicacy and beauty – they hit high gear with the up-tempo ‘Lake House’ and lock in with ‘Trying To Pretend’ – an ethereal siren song that builds, grows wings, and soars. Share The Joy reaches its summit with ‘Sixteen Ways’, whereupon the Vivs add attitude to the mix as cynical lyrics are juxtaposed against sonic sweetness while vapour trails of vocal harmony intertwine and dissipate into the mesmeric miasma.
The trio also demonstrate their harder edge with ‘Vanishing of Time’, adding evocative badlands guitar to their trademark sound. There’s also humour here; the enchanting and lovelorn ‘Take It As It Comes’ features some arch girl-group dialogue, and ‘Death’ emerges from banks of organ vibrato as a darkly comic deathsong pastiche.
Closing track ‘Light In Your Eyes’ finds the group again scaling the bucolic peaks depicted on the sleeve; the song slowly gathers momentum before bursting into vibrant life as restrained distortion crackles around the edge of melody. This is the trio at their most hypnotic, with the icing on the cake being a lead vocal of extraordinary resonance.
There’s nothing radical here for anyone who enjoyed the previous two Vivian Girls album, simply a measured methodical development that is wholly indicative of a group who are developing into something very special indeed.
