CVC have got the weed, they’ve got the blues – caused by their women and stingy bosses, and they’ve got a living room full of recording equipment, no doubt strewn with Pink Floyd, Harry Nilsson and ex-Beatles members vinyl sleeves. Sometime in 2020, the Church Village Collective (in case you were wondering what the CVC stood for) got their thing together and created a record out of the whole magnificent tableau, and what a record it is.
Sitting comfortably alongside fellow South Wales scene mates Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard and Pigeon Wigs or, casting out to their wider world, finding kinship with the latest space-rock incarnation of Arctic Monkeys (interestingly enough the album’s mixed by Ross Orton who also worked the desk on a couple of the Sheffield lads’ releases) ‘Get Real’ sounds like a bunch of mates having a laugh. It just so happens to be that this bunch of mates are highly accomplished, laid back lounge funk musicians with a penchant for buxom riffs and a silky saxophone solo.
One of the LP’s highlights is overtly built around a band in-joke, mocking drummer Daniel for being gaga about a bashfully reluctant singer named ‘Sophie’, with a tune that veers perilously close to Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game’, but smothering it with enough of their own charm to make it barely noticeable. ‘Good Morning Vietnam’ mines another seventies quarry, fronting a Chic disco score with lead singer Francesco Orsi’s gruff blues vocals, while ‘Music Stuff’ is proof it’s possible to build an undeniable, original banger out of the most unlikely elements of slap bass and harmony infested soft rock.
With it’s pulsing synthesiser intro and dark musing on the cheek of The Man deducting some of their hard earned buck, ‘Docking The Pay’ is a surprise sober excursion from CVC’s light-hearted and stoned standard fare, verifying that although they’re having a massive laugh playing the part of feckless throwbacks from half a century ago, the South Wales sextet have barely started showing us what they’re really capable of when they leave the retro climes of guitarist Elliot Bradfield’s front room recording studio.
‘Get Real’ was released on Friday 13th January 2023 and is available to stream on all of the services right now. You can also order yourself a physical copy if you love it.
Find the video for the brilliant ‘Sophie’ below:
Edge of Arcady 