Edinburgh three piece Vistas have quietly been making a name for themselves over the past few years. With two albums under their belt and a few bangers to join them along the way (look no further than Retrospect and Calm), they return with their third album Is This All We Are?
Their return has all the traits you associate with the band; catchy refrains and loud choruses. It takes a while to get there, however, and whether the wait is worth it will depend on the listener.
Opener ‘Cruel Hearts’ is an adequate tone setter; a steady guitar riff helps build momentum, meanwhile the refrain, “Cruel hearts keep us together/Kind words I never tell you” is more than ready for festival stages.
However, followup single ‘Bad Idea’ unfortunately falls short of the mark and sounds like the band in desperate search for another hit. The instrumental lacks any sort of edge to make you consider a second listen, and Robertson’s vocals lacks the personality he typically possesses.
The following track ‘Dopamine’ has more character than the previous outing, with frontman Robertson doing a better job of guiding the listener from start to finish. The punchy bassline helps the cause, and the chorus is arguably the best on the LP.
As the album roll on however, it becomes harder to distinguish which track is the single. Taking songs such as ‘I Know I Know’ and ‘Nowadays’ by themselves shows them to be short and sweet wannabe indie hits; utterly harmless and fun. When put into context with the rest of the album, however, you may be begging for a change of pace as you press play.
Album closer ‘A Hit Of Heaven’ thankfully does a fitting job of changing the tone even if it does come at the end of the road. The distant dance style drums help give a sense of anticipation towards a worthy final chorus, successfully giving a sense of finality.
While no outing is particularly bad, the album seems to jumble together as a whole with no moments to either breathe or get excited about. Is This All We Are? may potentially be a record to listen to on festival stages, but in the comfort of your home the tracklist may seem to last a longer than it should.
Written by Niall McGreevy