The KVB - Unity [LP]

Underground coldwave duo The KVB are back with their most potent and immediate record yet. Produced and mixed by Andy Savours (Black Country New Road, My Bloody Valentine, The Horrors) 'Unity' represents an exciting development in the band's sonic journey.

Across the album's ten songs, The KVB masterfully pull together their trademark components; radiant guitars, textural synths and an ear for a moody, brooding melody all presented here with with a renewed dynamism. Throughout the album lyrical themes combine double meanings and a sleight of hand is present; Le Corbousier's brutalist 'Unité d'habitation' informs the title track and via the French-to-English translation 'Unité' becomes 'Unity' - a rallying cry to totality on the dancefloor. 'Unbound' is informed by the classic shoegaze stylings of Slowdive and Ride but also late-modern poet Keston Sutherland and the idea of recreating a special moment lost to the past.

Blending reverb-soaked shoegaze with minimalist electronic production, The KVB's music reflected Nicholas Wood and Kat Day's mastery of atmosphere even as their sound evolved over the course of the 2010s. Early releases such as 2012's debut album, Always Then, dealt in brittle beats and sonic blasts that evoked Cabaret Voltaire and the Jesus and Mary Chain in equal measure, but the duo's style became more streamlined and sharp-edged on later efforts such as 2018's Only Now Forever.