Versus returns, with a new record, On the Ones and Threes (release date: August 3), and a worldview darkened with the "sanitization" of both bands and music venues in their home city of New York.
On the Ones and Threes’ brooding themes are explained bluntly by Richard: “Well, I’m just a dark person, and I get more nihilistic the older I get.”
Even bassist Fontaine Toups, who assumes lead vocal duties on a handful of tracks, isn’t immune to the cynicism. On the gorgeously chiming “Scientists,” she keens “Feeling so happy/The end will come soon” over sun-bleached melodies that belie the song’s decidedly morose sentiment.
The nihilism comes to an apex on closing track “The Ones and Threes.” As a funereal organ gives way to a cacophonous maelstrom of guitars, Richard resignedly urges, “Yes I am the number thirteen/In elevator society/Why be superstitious/When we’re all just specks of dust/You can’t help it and I can’t stop it,” as Toups’ guardian-angel backing vocals evince the band’s greatest strength: the way the pair’s voices bleed together so seamlessly. It’s the darkest song on the darkest record Versus has ever made.
“That’s pretty much my worldview right there. It’s about being out of step with everyone else, like Minor Threat!” Richard wryly volunteers. “It’s also a joke about Europeans clapping,” he laughs. The double entendre illustrates the conundrum at the heart of Versus, that of dark humor obscuring the sheer emotion at the core of what they do.
Download and share the first track from On the Ones and Threes, "Invincible Hero." Photos and bio can be found here, and for more information, contact christina@mergerecords.com.
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