Vue Babies are for Petting
Vue sound a lot like The Strokes and The Libertines and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, which is to say they sound a lot like Television and Velvet Underground and even Bob Dylan.
That’s really not the problem. The problem is that Vue sounds like all of those acts, but only if you take out the raw energy and raucous excitement. Like all new garage rock bands, they’re derivative but they forgot to steal anything interesting.
Vue, from San Francisco, has released two previous albums for Sub Pop, but now they’ve been called up to the major leagues, signing a record deal with RCA, also home to The Strokes. To build some sort of critical buzz for their summer full-length, the band has released an EP, curiously titled Babies are for Petting.
The five songs are quality bluesy rock mixed with a little Golden State psychedelia. There’s some fuzzy guitars, there’s keyboards played by a girl, there’s occasional harmonica and singer Rex Shelverton sounds like he’s singing with a sock covering his head. It’s sort of like an ‘Idiot’s Guide to Garage,’ a beginner’s lesson in a skuzzy genre while remaining too polished and pretty.
‘Look Out For Traffic’ is the EP’s standout track, and according to a press release, it may also be included on the album. The guitars are breezy and carefree, sounding like a Britpop summer jam as Shelverton does his best Julian Casablancas part-sneer, part-sing.
‘Hey Hey Not in Here’ is also bouncy and knee-slapping, but one can not help but think Is This It? while listening to all of Babies are for Petting. Shelverton and Jonah Buffer, Vue’s other guitarist, along with drummer Rafael Orlin, are all more talented musicians than New York’s favorite sons, but the songs aren’t as enjoyable or fun as even a mediocre Strokes jam.
When the title track begins, and Shelverton soulfully croons, ‘You know that babies are for petting/ In case you were forgetting/ The love that you owe,’ it may be the creepiest thing since Roman Polanski’s standing ovation at the Oscar’s.
Another Shelverton lyric sums up what can be said about Vue’s Babies are for Petting: ‘If you are for real, show me more. Just something so I know who you are.’
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