Vistlip Cook Up a Chaotic ”Recipe” With New Single

Vistlips’ latest offerin, Recipe,  comes as the first single of their 5th anniversary year and the first since their album ORDERMADE. First of all, the artwork is pretty cool with a nonsensical Salvator Dali-inspired landscape of spoons and forks stuck into hillsides and a black cat in the midst of it all. This mish mash of images reflects the music of the single pretty well.

In “Recipe,” vistlip take notes from MUCC with sweeping, wistful electro and gentle guitar notes that set the scene for a gentle, optimistic track. Dance effects and turntable scratching support the understated guitar melody giving the song a sunny pop-rock feel. While it’s all very pleasant, the instrumentals do not reach out and grab attention. On the contrary, the standout feature is the vocals, which clearly carry the song. Tomo draws on strong, confident notes that include some competent falsetto. It is not a particularly memorable song, but vistlip strikes the right balance with a pleasant, summery sound.

“Einstein” on the other hand is a bit confused. The sparse verses leading to heavier fills are cool. Dance beat synths underlie gothic minor keys and crunching guitars in a sound reminiscent of bands like Schwarzstein. Yet, what may have been a promisingly unusual sound suddenly verges into a pedestrian pop chorus. The elements are thrown together without much thought and links between the sections do not feel natural. This could have been an interesting piece if they continued down the gothic dance route, and it does improve on repeated listens, but is ultimately disorientating and jarring.

On the regular edition, the third song is “Troy.” After two pop-heavy numbers, vistlip show their teeth with this song, but, “Troy” makes Recipe less of a complete single and more a collection unconnected songs and styles. It all comes off as an entirely different band. From the start, the song strikes industrial notes with deep guitars and a frenetic metal drum beat. The snarling vocals add a measure of pacing but the general rhythm is a mess. It seems vistlip also can’t help reaching for another pop chorus, the only element linking it to previous tracks. In essence, “Troy” sounds like an attempt to become a hardcore visual metal band, but it ultimately falls short.

The limited edition fares a little better with “the surface [Re:birth],” a rollicking rock song with some hip-hop/dance influences in the liberal vinyl scratching and Tomo’s amusing attempts to be a badass rap/rocker. Compared to “Troy,” this song shines. Everything is more confident–the drum rhythm is not all over the place and the guitars are much stronger and firmer with a decent solo from Yuh. It’s hard not to bob your head to the music.

Vistlip fans will surely find much to like here, with a strong lead track, and two B-sides to select from. “Troy” and “the surface [Re:birth]” are likely good live songs, even if CD doesn’t exhibit their full potential. For others, though, forget the regular and head straight for the limited edition. You still have to sit through “Einstein” but “the surface [Re:birth]” is great fun and worth the trouble.

Limited Edition ‘Vister’: 2 track CD + DVD

Limited Edition ‘Lipper’: 5 track CD

Regular Edition 3 track CD

Tracklist:

1. Recipe
2. Einstein
3. the surface [Re:birth] (Limited Lipper Edition CD track) / Troy (Regular Edition CD track)
4. Recipe (instr) (Limited Lipper Edition CD track)
5. Einstein (instr) (Limited Lipper Edition CD track)