The van der Mentals release their debut album.

 THE VAN DER MENTALS                                    CITY MONSTER (2020)

 

At the moment this album, the Van der Mentals’ debut, is available only on Bandcamp but a CD release is promised too.

 

Rob Nagel is the only name I recognise on the band roster and I’d guess this is his side hustle when he’s not gigging with the Blues Broers. Simon Orange, also from the Blues Broers, plays keyboards. I’ve no clue who the other guys in the band are.

 

According to the blurb this recording is kind of home-made and, of course, independent of any record label.

 

The music is laid back, tuneful, bluesy (with a hint of country) rock and the two immediate impressions are (a) that production values are high and the musicianship excellent; and (b) that the vocals are the weakest link and kind of let down the side. The songs are well written, and quite literate, but three (or two?) vocalists have distressingly colourless voices that may be able to carry a tune, but lack character and impact. They sound too damn polite and cautious. For this reason the tracks sound like demos, albeit well-produced demos, with guide vocals.

 

A couple of tracks have sassy blues riffs, reminiscent of Hubert Sumlin with Howlin’ Wolf (both “There’s No Change” and “Bad Day” sound like “Smokestack Lightnin” re-imagined), but the basic mode is grooving, mid-tempo rock and roll, with tasteful guitar solos, with blues harp here and some jumping, raucous saxophone there. 

 

Two of the songs perpetuate the misogynistic, trad blues view of women, a rather glaring failure in the “me too” era. Never mind stealing a Madonna song title, “Material Girl” is a well-worn trope that offers no new insights and “If I’d Have Shot Her When I Should” repeats a tired joke that wasn’t funny in the first place. I know that traditional blues lyrics treat women as low down and bad, or objectify their sexuality, but this doesn’t mean that modern bluesmen should repeat that error. Not many relationships are perfect, and it’s usually both sides that are at fault, and there must be enough material there that can be used to sing the blues without automatically blaming the woman.

 

Musically, though, “Material Girl” is a groovy little number with driving bass, rasping sax and some lovely slide guitar.

 

The other songs are, as I’ve said, well-written and it’s apparent that thought and care have gone into the lyrics. “Don’t Tune Me ‘Huh’ ” (I’m guessing it’s a Rob Nagel composition) perpetuates another wretched South African stereotype but it’s funny. “Sing in the Rain”  is the lovelorn ballad and “I Don’t Want Your Body” is the sly country shot, or would be if the singer had a twang.

 

The album is a worthy effort and the guys must be commended for putting it out, but I can’t say it’s a record I’ll be listening to more than once, mostly because of the uninspiring vocals. I’d suggest that the band gets a vocalist with a more powerful, interesting voice to elevate the tunes.  I suppose it doesn’t matter much in a sweaty, smoke-filled barroom where the PA is so bad that the vocals are distorted and the musicians can carry the load but in the cold light of day, listening to these tracks on superior headphones, the abject vocals are extremely disappointing when contrasted with the confident, vigorous music underneath.