I suspect you might have noticed already but after six long years, this generation's answer to David Byrne returned yesterday evening with a new single, 'A Chore'. From the sounds of that new single, Tom Vek has picked up where he left off with 2005's 'We Have Sound'.
Matthew from The Pigeon Post was particularly thrilled at Tom Vek's return, and unsurprisingly so - he put forward Vek's album as his favourite British album of the last decade in the blogger poll I compiled at the end of 2009. But he wasn't the only excited party, with Vek actually trending on Twitter recently.
Vek's return remains unexplained but the more important question is whether 'A Chore' lives up to its creator's near mythical status. I think many people consider it a suitable return, and I'm one of them. It might not be the heavily Talking Heads-inspired classic that was 'Nothing But Green Lights' but it is another absorbing burst of post-punk meets electronica.
The lyrics, at face value, appear to suggest that 'A Chore' is an ode to a failing relationship but as Sam Wolfson notes, there may be something deeper - "What you perceive as life is no more than a chore" - perhaps an explanation of Vek's continued absence from music? Maybe we'll never know.
It's less than two months since I jokingly tipped Tom Vek as a band to watch in 2011. Yet here we are. The new album, 'Leisure Seizure' drops on June 6th, followed by a brief UK tour. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Or like I said before, return of the Jedi.
Purchase 'A Chore' at iTunes, Amazon.co.uk etc now. Visit tomvek.tv for news.
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