One element that distinguishes the music of artists like Jamie XX and Fred Again is that, unlike many other DJ-producers, they tend to come at their songs and even their DJ sets from a songwriter’s perspective more than a producer’s one. It’s a subtle distinction, but most of their music is based as much around melody as beats or textures.
Although much of his earlier solo work was more production-based, British DJ-producer-artist Vegyn — aka Joseph Thornally, who’s worked extensively with Frank Ocean, Travis Scott, Kali Uchis, Jessie Reyez and others — has moved decisively into this category with his new album, “The Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions.”
While there are certainly elements of this sound in his voluminous previous releases and collaborations, it’s never been quite as focused or finely honed as it is here. The album features such vocalists as John Glacier, Matt Maltese, Léa Sen, Lauren Auder & Ethan P. Flynn on several tracks (and Glacier rapping – over a string quartet and beatbox, natch – on “In the Front”), melody is at the forefront of every song whether it has a singer or not.
Although many of the tracks have ricocheting, 2-step-esque beats underpinning them, few of the songs here could really be considered dance music (and even those would be a very low-key dance music). Throughout, the music has a sort of cloudy yet optimistic feel to it that the artist has described as “happy melancholia” – reminiscent of Fred Again’s masterful “Real Life” albums without necessarily sounding like them – and an innate musicality. (Perhaps it’s in Vegyn’s DNA: his father is Phil Thornally, a veteran musician-producer who was bassist for the Cure during the mid-‘80s and has worked with everyone from Bryan Adams to Mel C to the Thompson Twins and even co-wrote Natalie Imbruglia’s massive hit “Torn.”)
It’s the kind of album that can work as lean-forward or lean-back music, with lush atmospheres, lots of ear candy (from sound bites and brief passages of acoustic guitars to the sound early modems when connecting) and rhythms that are driving and energetic but not demanding. There aren’t many bangers, but that’s not the point of “happy melancholy.”