Circa Waves frontman Kieran Shudall has shared a new five-song EP from his solo project VEN and is now promoting one of the cuts ‘Burning Away’ with a brand new video.
“VEN EP is a collection of feelings. five tracks to become enveloped in. I hope all the hours I’ve put in can give you 15 minutes of escapism,” explains Shudall about the new EP. “It’s led by a love of production and making sounds that excite my ears. That combined with the most honest lyrics I can muster it feels like I’m not just releasing an EP but I’m removing a heavy weight off my shoulders.”
Thanks for putting your weight on us, bud. ‘Burning Away’ is a fairly lightweight track. VEN is a pretty lightweight EP. There’s something to be said for an artist consciously creating and crafting a record’s sound so that all the pieces fit together and contain a similar mood and feeling. And then there’s an artist whose every song sounds the same. Every song on VEN sounds the same. It’s soulful bedroom pop with a slightly different beat but the same vocal tics, same production style, same uninspired instrumentation. There’s nothing on VEN that you haven’t heard before.
Last time I talked about LEN I wished Shudall all the success in the world. And I still do. But I also talked a decent amount about Shudall’s day job in Circa Waves and even found time to bring up Canadian pop duo LEN. That should not inspire good feelings about how captivated I was listening to the music on LEN VEN. Take from this what you will, but I am taking away very little.
I’m slightly worried that the 5.1 rating will make it seem like I think this music is actively bad, sort of like how detailed two-star ratings are worse than tossed off one-star ratings. It’s not: it’s just actively mediocre. But then I remember that this EP went in one ear and out the other without leaving any kind of impression on my brain, so I stop worrying. Maybe I should worry if there are any passionate Kieran Shudall fans who’ll want a word or two with me in a back alley after reading this. Now there’s something to worry about.
Check out the video for ‘Burning Away’ down below. The VEN EP is available now.
VEN tracklisting
- H8 Lovin
- Sorry
- hey bro
- Burning Away
- Girl in Blue