“It’s sort of a joke name,” says Emilie Friedlander of Brooklyn band, La Big Vic. “It’s simple and three easy syllables,” says Emilie.
Comprised of Toshio Masuda on guitar/synth, Emilie Friedlander on synth/violin/vocals, and Peter Pearson on synths/programming/keyboard arsenal, La Big Vic’s music is anything but easy to describe. But, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
La Big Vic’s epic and wide screen sound is full of hooks that you never really expect. “There’s a pop element to our music, but we bring in drones from [influences like] Velvet Underground and Tony Conrad,” says Peter, “we have a different sensibility, Toshio does play guitar but it’s atmospheric. It’s an extra little part in there, not the driving force.”
Just as Peter indicates, there’s no one thing that draws you to La Big Vic. The band is kind of prog, kind of psych, kind of grand in scale. La Big Vic creates massive soundscapes, yet they really like to blur lines between genres and ideas. “I think we planned to be flexible. As you get to see us more, [you notice that] we all have our own pretty defined melodic sensibilities. We all have our own style,” says Emilie.
Such flexibility really comes through nicely in La Big Vic. ‘Heyo (Silver Morning)’ sounds like a tribal dance session mixed with Asian instruments. ‘Musica’ feels and sounds a journey across the bottom of the ocean floor, with plenty of atmospheric guitar and synth parts to bring out the vibe. ‘LYNY’ sounds like what the future might be like, full of computerized vocals and blippy synths. ‘Nuclear Bomb’ is the closest thing to a typical rock song, but even ‘Nuclear Bomb’ makes use of distorted violins, raging synths, and guitars that are more atmospheric than in your face. All of these songs refreshingly come together with equal parts imagination and patience.
What’s most remarkable about all of this is that all of this sounds like the work of one band. Having such a varied sound could create an identity crisis, but not so with La Big Vic. “We have very diverse musical taste, and we tried to fuse it in an intuitive way, not in an academic way,” says Emilie.
Remaining in place is the last thing that La Big Vic wants to do. “I feel like labels want one particular genre and that’s kind of boring to me,” says Toshio. “That’s when you start becoming shitty as a band,” adds Emilie, “when you figure out what you do and keep trying to recreate that. We’re all into pop music, but we’re also into classical and experimental new music. We want to be able to play shows for all kinds of crowds.”
Odds are La Big Vic will be playing music for all types of crowds in the future. After playing numerous showcases at SXSW, La Big Vic is currently getting ready to release their newest record, Actually, on May 10th through Underwater Peoples.
Overflowing with ideas, yet taking the time to craft them into something special, give La Big Vic a listen – who knows where they might take you.
Check out La Big Vic here, here, and here.
