Striking blues-rock with a crisp and gritty guitar riff, and low-toned, sultry male vocals – Vince Robson captures story and vibe with style, as the mighty Desire introduces the memorable and well-titled album Movie Soundtracks to Non-Existent Movies.
Independent as ever, the artist otherwise known as Schmooz delivers a fine collection of rock and pop-fusing songs for this project, utilising both a lifetime of songwriting experience and modern production tools in equal parts, for a seamlessly cool sound that’s built around slick riffs, heavy grooves, and strong hooks.
Versatility is naturally a key part of this fictional movie history realm, and on that note, They Called It The Eighties presents an immediate change of tone. Female vocals and a kind of eighties electro-pop anthem pours through, softer and more colourful, still loaded with vivid imagery and ideas that set that cinematic vibe, and once again, the song is a catchy earworm, only with a different genre and mood.
Inspired by Pink Floyd and Muse as much so as Portishead and Sinatra, Vince Robson’s love of music is what guides the creative production process, meaning no style is out of reach, and the artistic programming and AI-tools help make a lot of fun and freedom of the process.
Consider Dig Deeper, breathy and ambient – a subtle rock riff in the distance, then a heavier metal backdrop – essentially blending something like Florence and the Machine with the arrangement styles of AC/DC. This song is a personal favourite for that inherent contrast, and for the snappy and satisfying nature of this eighties-rock power hook.
What Do I Know injects a huge and powerful guitar riff and further contrast, before the conceptually enthralling and fast-fingered bar-brawl of I Swallowed a Monster delivers one of the album’s most creative and intriguing songs of all. Then things turn down a darker pathway, for the nu-metal ferocity and scorn of Not Normal – an angst-driven redirection that’s again compelling in its contrast.
This album also concludes with something completely unexpected, and this is the electronic dance arrangement and immersive synth ambiance of Show Me What You Got. The structuring and faultless tones highlight the intricacy and professionalism of AI production, and the playful riffs and that balancing of darkness and optimism seems perfectly in tune with the Vince Robson affinity for music. It’s a great closing moment, and it leads interestingly well into the original starting point of the cool and captivating Desire.
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