It’s pretty thoughtless of Pitchfork to drop a fairly glowing review of Something Becomes You on Boxing Day1 of all days. Voyeur released two great EPs in 2024, and the press from the (former) kings of indie rock comes on one of the lowest-traffic days of the year. They also use the dreaded s-word, so maybe we should just move on.
Voyeur is an NYC alt-rock band that’s a little hard to pin down. Something Becomes You was released last October2, and it sounds perfectly of-the-moment — unpredictable, adventurous and somewhat sinister. Opener “Whisper” above sounds like the band has been sharing Sonic Youth records with bar italia or triage. Noisy moments clash with gentle melodies throughout this record, and songs that start off on a simmer sometimes boil over and sometimes stop just short:
The centrepiece of the record is “Look Through You”, a melancholy and dissociative seven-and-a-half minute epic that seamlessly follows the song above. The vocals from Jake Lazovick and Sharleen Chidiac transition from tender to feral and back while the guitars and drums come apart at the seams:
This is in pretty stark contrast to their other EP from 2024, February’s Ugly. That record has both feet in the glory days of early grunge.
That’s not meant as a negative. There’s a vital punk-rock energy and a bluntness woven through the five songs on Ugly that has been replaced by carefully constructed chaos and more lyrical subtlely on Something Becomes You. They sound like they could have been recorded half a decade apart; I was shocked to learn that the two EPs were released in the same calendar year.
Ugly closer “Everybody Talks” is the bridge between the two records: a gentle build that peters out as Lazovick pleads “I don’t want to watch you fade away”, with a sound that fits in with so many classic NYC artists from Lou Reed to Julian Casablancas. Despite Pitchfork’s ultimate Friday-night-special treatment, Voyeur seems positioned to grab the nostalgic and current music obsessives.
Further Reading
Alternative Press “Five Songs that Inspired”
- I’m Canadian. Boxing Day is real. You’re weird for thinking it’s weird.
- Pitchfork had 10 weeks to post that review! Did the band run over the editor’s foot with their van? I digress.
