Taking Pictures Of Taking Pictures

Based in Augsburg, Germany, a university town near Munich, and made up of members from Germany and the U.K., the BVs arrived on the indie scene in 2016 with a murky, self-recorded debut that was essentially a set of demos (Speaking from a Distance). While they gradually upgraded and clarified production over ensuing releases, what hasnt changed are stylistic reference points that make space for gloomy post-punk, touches of shoegaze and Krautrock, and bouncy, jangly indie pop on each EP and LP to date. This is also true of their third album and Shelflife label debut, taking pictures of taking pictures, which also marks the expansion of the original duo into a quartet. The track list opens in dancy, driving fashion with "clipping," a song that evokes hits by bands like the Cure and New Order while combining some of the aforementioned sounds. Next, the bittersweet "i cant stand the rain," with its singing guitar countermelody and lively bassline, falls closer to classic indie pop inspirations, while a song like the slow and somber "anything" dwells in late-night basement meditations (although most of the album in sung in English, German makes an appearance here), and they take an artier turn on the druggy, more motorik instrumental outro track, "d…." Along the way are standouts like the blurry and melancholy title track and the bouncy "Sundays" ("Its only eight Sundays between you and me"), which, together, go to show that the BVs are good at gothy and jangly fare, so why not both? ~ Marcy Donelson