Boston indie rock trio Vundabar have just wrapped up their tour in support of their fifth studio LP Devil for the Fire, released just this past April. Having been around for nearly a decade now, they’re undoubtedly most widely known for their 2015 track “Alien Blues” (from the Gawk LP) which started to blow up on TikTok late last year. With its lyrics that go “my teeth are yellow, hello world / would you like me better if they were white like yours?”, you’ve definitely heard it before if you’ve spent any amount of time on the platform (stream below). Up until recently, I swore these guys were British. With their jangly guitars and angular melodies, as well as singer Brandon Hagen’s vocal delivery, previous listenings brought me to that conclusion. Admittedly, I never previously gave their music too much thought.
Listening through Devil for the Fire for the first time was a bit of an eye opening experience. Lead track “Aphasia” (which features Indigo De Souza on backing vocals) is a low-key banger of the dream pop variety that had me hooked by the song’s catchy first chorus. BTW, the accompanying music video is wondrously goofy (see below). At times reminding me of some of my favorite indie from the aughts (such as Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Band of Horses), it didn’t take long for me to come to the realization that they’re not at all the raucous dissonance I assumed – they’re actually quite poppy and catchy, especially with their frequent employment of non-lexical vocables that make singing the choruses and hooks to their songs so damn fun and easy. Their discography has something for everyone.
For the 2nd to last date of their Devil for the Fire tour, they played to a sold out crowd at The Foundry in Philly. Opening for Vundabar was LA-based songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Runnner (yes, that’s with 3 “n’s”). Vundabar were greeted to the stage with techno jam “Sandstorm” blasting over the PA. They kicked off their set with Smell Smoke LP lead track “Acetone”. After their crowd-pleasing performance of “Alien Blues”, they played “Diver” – a grunge-y track with “Sweater Song” vibes. With his tall build, Hagen’s head remained in dangerous proximity to the steel rafters overhead for the entirety of their set. He comically engaged with the audience throughout the night and at one point got into a barking match with the crowd, asking “have you ever been in an altercation and barked at somebody?” After performing “Darla”, Hagen unconvincingly deadpanned “that’s our last song, goodbye” – without even bothering to pretend to leave the stage, they launched immediately into their encore of “Oulala”.
Vundabar will be back in the area again when they play Asbury Lanes on 9/27 (supporting Indigo De Souza) – tickets to that show are available here. See all of their upcoming tour dates here and keep scrolling below to see more photos from the show.
