The recent single “Ordinary Night” from Austin-based five-piece Very Busy People is something of a Texas palm tree. It might surprise you, reader, to learn that there are species of palm tree native to Texas. It doesn’t really fit with the ten-gallon hat of it all; palm trees are more in Miami or dying in LA due to climate change. But there’s actually a few native varieties to be found in different parts of America, including the state of Texas.
Likewise, rather than yet another alt-country band (and we love alt-country, don’t get me wrong), we get something I’m tempted to call “not pessimistic Tame Impala from the land of Stevie Ray Vaughn”, though that doesn’t quite land the scope of their sound.
I’m stereotyping Austin a little here, of course. But still, this is a sound I’d have expected from LA. Maybe that’s part of what makes the sound interesting: The drag of their influences against the cultural typing of their surroundings. That’s probably bullshit, to be honest, but the song is good fun.
The doubled-vocals are mostly where the Tame Impala comparison comes from, but the vocal performance is nowhere near the same. There’s a willingness to put yourself out there, both in terms of pushing air and getting loud vocally, but also in terms of not worrying about seeming so damn cool.
We’ve got kisses of 80s here in the chorused guitar and synth pads, but we swerve out of mere nostalgia and into something that feels distinctly 2020s to me. Great for fans of Mk.gee and Hippocampus, not to mention other bands with a post-modern synth-and-disco sound led by guys named Kevin. Take a listen to Very Busy People’s “Ordinary Night” below.
Written by Willow Stonebeck
