Vazum eagerly await winter’s thaw with their new single and video Blush — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
A Detroit deathgaze duo might be the last folks you’d expect to suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, but as Vazum want to make clear with their latest release, winter can be a bummer for anybody. Blush delivers a hopeful and timely reminder that milder days lie ahead — a message to cling to, whether your personal tastes normally run toward daffodils or funeral lilies.
Appropriately enough, it all came out of their love of gardening. Last year, musical partners Zach Pilska (vocals, guitar and drums) and Emily Sturm (vocals, bass and synyhesizers) bought a church in Jackson, Michigan, to serve as their living space and studio. One of the first things they did was to turn the parking lot out front into an oasis of native pollinators and flowers. Watching that garden flourish as spring turned to summer planted the literal seed of a new song: A hymn of renewal to be repeated like an affirmation in times when all seems frozen and hopeless.
“Every winter is a struggle to survive the cold, dark, bleak days and nights,” the band says. “Seasonal depression hits us all in different ways. We look forward to the spring with much excitement, as the sun breathes new life to the flowers and trees.”
The song renders that phenomenon as a neatly repeating two-act drama. Over a driving beat and some angular, ominously chiming guitar, Sturm’s vocal places us in the middle of a winter “so cold and bitter” that its virtues are hard to spot:
“Winter’s so cold and bitter
Always hanging around
Maybe it looks good on paper
Slipping on frozen ground…
We’re always falling down.”
The chords and melody turn brighter, though, for the redemptive chorus:
“Sunny days coming soon
For your lover
Mellow, softly
Lifting you up.”
And so it goes, back and forth and on again and off again, for five reassuring minutes that embody the eternal process of quietus and rebirth. It’s uplifting stuff indeed for an act that traditionally trades in deathgaze — a hybrid of deathrock, post-punk and shoegaze. The accompanying video is a study in contrasts too, transitioning from foreboding shots of wintry skies to images of wildflowers filmed in that Jackson garden and projected onto the band members’ bodies as they play. The duo have even departed from their traditional jet-black duds, donning cheerier metallic and iridescent costumes for “a glimmer of hope.”
Vazum have seen plenty of seasons pass since Pilska began recording and performing under that name in 2017. He released three albums before meeting Sturm; as a duo, they’ve generated multiple singles, an EP and four albums, including last year’s V-, a compilation of re-recorded greatest hits.
Watch the video for Blush above, check out more from Vazum below, and warm up to them on their website, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
