Album Review: Red Vox Soars to New Heights on ‘Realign’
The Staten Island indie band outdo themselves on their most emotionally striking record to date.
Written by Haley Kennis
Image courtesy of AmoralCow
Hype can make or break an album. Tons of anticipation can help keep fans excited during a long break between an artist’s releases, but it can also set their expectations for the next album at an unreachable level.
Fans have been waiting since 2017’s Another Light for more music from Red Vox, the musical project of Twitch streamers Vinesauce and Jabroni Mike. With new singles that suggested a more electronic sound, expectations were high for the spring release of the band’s third album, Realign. But much like everything else in the world, the album was delayed at the last minute due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, it was released on the evening of June 9 with a celebratory premiere of the album on the band’s Twitch page. But the question remained: Would Realign be everything we hoped it would?
In short, Realign didn’t just live up to its high expectations — it blew them out of the water. Red Vox explores new electronic sounds on this record but also creates a sound that is distinctly its own, showcasing the growth the members have experienced in their five years as a band. Every song is complex and layered, but also immediately captivating. Vinny – more widely known as Vinesauce — delivers incredibly confident and varied vocals, and his lyrics are even more clever and thoughtful. Mike’s drumming is as energetic and punchy as ever and drives the songs forward. Rounding out the lineup, multi-instrumentalists Joe and Bill offer spacious production and fiery synthesizers that add depth to each track. These additions create an album that is emotionally captivating from start to finish.
Realign kicks off with its title track, an upbeat, acoustic rock frolic that sets the theme of the album. Lyrics like “on my own, on my time / All I’m leaving is the past behind / For my soul, for my mind / All I need is what I’m meant to find” express the desire to move forward from this chapter of life to a better future. It is easy to feel tied to the past and stuck in a rut, wondering “How far will this one go? / How long will this go on and on and on?” But sometimes, the band says, the only thing left to do is move forward for the betterment of yourself and others around you.
One standout track, “Apathetic Empathy,” is a lively, catchy song about a very helpless feeling: wanting to help someone through a tough time but knowing that you can’t handle taking on their problems. Vinny smoothly sings the infectious melody over the rollicking groove, “Well I could try my best to help but I don’t know you / And there’s only so much difference it could make / I could try my best to save you but I’m weighed down / If I push it any further I could sink.” But its message is not a bleak one, as each chorus ends with a line of optimism: “You know it’s not too late now / For another start” and “There always was a way out / You knew it all along.” Even if he can’t help, he still believes that the other people have the power within them to save themselves. While Red Vox always wore their influences on their sleeves — like the Talking Heads-inspired funky bounce of “Job in the City” and the heavy, Zeppelin-style riffs on “Settle for Less” — these songs show just how much they’ve refined those influences into a sound that can be uniquely theirs.
They’ve solidified their old sound, but Red Vox also explore new influences for the first time on Realign. “Return The Call” is a dark synthpop bop that could fit on MGMT’s last album Little Dark Age, which Vinny cited as a direct influence. “I Don’t Mean To Complain” sounds like Red Vox doing their own spin on Depeche Mode, while the bright synths and jaunty drum machine on “Better On The Outside” are reminiscent of the soundtrack for the game “Stardew Valley.”
One long-running inspiration to the band that isn’t as clear in their earlier music can be heard across multiple songs on Realign: Tame Impala. “Why Can’t This Be Easy” and “The Reason This Is Happening” are driven by buzzing keyboards, crunchy bass riffs, searing guitars, and powerful drums that are nearly impossible not to move along to. “Be Someone Forever” is another psychedelic rock banger about the desire to be someone important enough to leave behind a lasting memory, but also deals with the implications of being well known. While it is tempting to want to “be someone forever” and “leave a memory behind forever,” it also comes with the pressures of being a public figure. People will start to expect certain things from you, whether or not you are capable of meeting their expectations. The song’s dreamy atmosphere is cut through by Mike’s impassioned drums and Joe’s blazing guitar solo, mirroring the battle between idealism and reality in the lyrics. You can dance along to these songs on a chill summer day just as easily as you ponder their lyrical dilemmas in the dark of night.
Realign is a densely layered and atmospheric album across the board. “Far Away” is a calm, ethereal song led by a quiet acoustic guitar and Vinny’s gentle vocals. As the seconds tick on, a little dreamy world comes to life as electric guitar swells and sounds of birds chirping and crows cawing play along to the lines “You can feel it on the grass, in the heat, to the cool of the breeze” and “You can feel it on a cold winter eve / As the crows fall asleep.” “Far Away” is at turns both vague and extremely descriptive, detailing the beauty of the world and the indescribable way it can make us feel. “Anesthesia” is dreamy in a much different way. Heavy reverb glosses over the guitars and drums, capturing the hazy, foggy feeling of being anesthetized. Vinny’s voice is low and groggy, singing, “Hey, why do I feel this way? / I can’t remember / Hey, I’m ticking the time away / On anesthesia.” It is one of the more haunting songs on the album for how well it captures the empty bleakness of brain fog. Through and through, the instrumentals on Realign encapsulate the emotions portrayed in the lyrics, whether that is peace, fear, resignation, or haziness.
One of the finest moments of Realign is the closer “Pale Blue Dot.” Inspired by astronomer Carl Sagan’s speech of the same name, the song details how tiny Earth and all of humanity are in the grand scheme of the universe.
“Far from the earth, far from the sky, we are no other
Out in the dark, a lone speck of light, all our creation
If we're the only thing that matters, then all we'll leave behind
This little dot you'd barely find.”
While some would take this revelation nihilistically, “Pale Blue Dot” chooses not to. Even if we are small and insignificant, Vinny celebrates the inherent beauty of humanity: “No two the same, yet all alike / We are worth saving.” “We are the ones we leave behind,” and therefore, we should fight to protect both our home and each other. No matter how terrible humanity may seem, we are all we have. The final chorus says it best:
You are the moonlight on a mountain
You are a wave upon the sea
You picked a time that really matters
Don't f--k it up for you and me.”
Although it was written last year, “Pale Blue Dot” reflects our current moment. An album filled with inner and outer turmoil that ends with a message of hope and action would have been powerful at any time, but it feels especially impactful in a year where many around the world have lost faith in humanity. If you only listen to one song from Realign, listen to this one. Not only are the lyrics affecting, but Vinny’s gentle, stunning vocals and the simple arrangement that soars into a triumphant ending make the track even more moving. Each member of the band shines in their own way on “Pale Blue Dot,” and it might just be the best song Red Vox has made so far. As a Twitch user in the premiere chat put it, “this will be the credits song for Earth.”
Realign is a hidden indie gem that a lot of people will miss out on. If you are looking for an album to keep you going through 2020’s exhausting insanity, this is it. This album shows that even during turmoil, both worldwide and personal, there are still reasons to keep working toward a better future. Realign is not just an album you can jam to — it also speaks right to your soul.