Voom – Something Good Is Happening (Flying Nun) (13th Floor Album review)
It has been nearly two decades since Voom’s last album, but the wait has only deepened the affection for this enigmatic and beloved indie band.
Formed in the early 1990s by Buzz Moller, the group has a unique space in Aotearoa’s music scene: lo-fi yet melodic, emotionally raw yet playful, and always unmistakably personal. Over the years, the band’s line-up has shifted, it is centred around ever present Moller and now includes Murray Fisher (of Goodshirt) on guitar, Nick Buckton (sidekicknick, ex-The Tokey Tones) on bass and vocals, and new drummer Josh Sorenson.
Something Good Is Happening is Voom’s third album, the second was 2006’s Hello, Are You There?. Despite the long gap, the album has continuity with their earlier work; lo-fi textures, emotionally arresting vocals, a varied tempo palette, and lyrics that oscillate between heartfelt love and pure whimsy. Over the past year, several tracks quietly emerged as singles. Now gathered with additional songs into a 14 track album, they come together on a record that balances joy and introspection, and feels surprisingly cohesive.
The album opens with Unless You Are Alive, a 39 second fragment of layered vocal moaning that leads gently into the whispered title lyric. It functions as a surreal overture, perhaps part inside joke or part invocation. After this, Trouble kicks in with driving urgency, the guitar cutting through from the outset, drums locked into a quickened beat, and Moller’s vocals surfing the momentum. It is brisk and agitated suggesting the band has not mellowed with age.
The punkish energy continues on Crazy Feeling, a stop-start burst of indie pop joy. With Dunedin style strummed guitars, call and response vocals, and volume shifts, it is among the album’s most playful tracks. The playfulness continue in the accompanying video where Moller is his own psychiatrist, and many of Auckland’s alternative music scene characters celebrate the song’s party spirit.
On the other side of the spectrum, Everyone offers a soft, contemplative mood. Driven by acoustic guitar and spoken vocals, it drifts gently, anchored by repetition of the word “everyone” until it fades out in a haze of jangling strings. It is followed by We Don’t Care, which recycles indie’s loud quiet dynamics with chanting slogans and a marching, percussive drive.
Magic, a duet with Fazerdaze (Amelia Murray), is a standout moment of sonic alchemy. It opens with the crushing lyric “Excuse me while I die inside”, before bursting into punk noise, then settling into Fazerdaze’s sweeter tones contrasting with Moller’s deeper, rougher edges. It is chaotic and celebratory with the contrast between their voices accentuating the tension and release.
The title track, Something Good Is Happening, slows things down again, driven by strumming guitars and cymbal taps. The refrain “something good is happening” serves as both mantra and mystery.
At the album’s heart is I Love You Girl, its longest and most expansive track, despite being less than three and half minutes. Starting as a hushed whisper with background ambience, it swells to full band warmth before falling back again. The repeated title phrase is tender and unguarded, and a delicate mandolin adds a folky shimmer.
The final stretch is more acoustic and reflective. Do You Still Believe is wistful, so much so that it is whistled in parts; Most Beautiful Girl is gauzy and barely there, like a passing thought. Nightmare Man invokes horror film sonics with eerie effects and slow, disconcerting progressions. By contrast, One More Chance is lyrically direct “Please give me one more chance”, with the variety in tone making it sound sincere and never overbearing.
The album closes with two short instrumental interludes, Piano and Mushrooms and If I Waited a Lifetime. The former is drifting and wordless, perhaps someone had consumed the mushrooms before sitting at the keyboard, and the latter offers folk tinged acoustic lines and gentle reflections on “places that I’ve dreamed of.”
Across these 14 tracks, Something Good Is Happening confirms that Voom have lost none of their charm, invention, or emotional depth. It is an album of varied sonic styles anchored by a singular voice and spirit. After nearly 30 years of on and off existence, Voom remain one of Aotearoa’s partially hidden treasures, resurfacing with something new just when you think they may have faded away.
Support this album, cherish it, and enjoy it, as it may be a while until the next.
John Bradbury
New Album Something Good Is Happening Out May 16th via Flying Nun Records.
Pre-order/Save ‘Something Good Is Happening
Voom – ‘Something Good Is Happening’ Tour Dates:
Double Whammy – Auckland – Friday 23 May
The Yard – Raglan – Saturday 24th
The Loons – Lyttelton – Friday 30 May
San Fran – Wellington – Saturday 31 May
Tickets are on sale now at moshtix.co.nz
