After releasing their third album, 2020's
Pleasure Line, which doubled as their
Winspear label debut,
Video Age -- singers/songwriters/multi-instrumentalists
Ross Farbe and
Ray Micarelli -- were feeling uninspired, so they sought out outside collaboration. Over the next couple years,
Farbe produced albums for
the Convenience and
Esther Rose,
Micarelli played out on the jazz and blues scenes of their base of New Orleans, and they both contributed to
Drugdealer's 2022 album
Hiding in Plain Sight. Refreshed and somewhat diversified, they eventually reassembled with their touring band (
the Convenience's
Duncan Troast and
Nick Corson) in a rented cabin in Eunice, Louisiana, their first time constructing an album together in the same room. The resulting
Away from the Castle is a stylistically freer set that's still anchored in their previous album's synth-centric '80s pop but also drifts into disco ("Just Think"), driving country-rock (the title track), yacht rock inspirations ("Better Than Ever"), and more, all with the project's trademark tenderhearted demeanor. A track like the melancholy "In the Breaks," with its piano, acoustic strumming, and brushed snare, is a good example of a song without conspicuous synths that fits pretty seamlessly in with the rest, thanks to complementary touches like a delay-heavy sax, staggered harmony vocals, and
Farbe's smooth-as-silk lead. Those vocals help provide a through line for potential outliers like the disco-pop ditty "Just Think" (which includes lyrics about "disco night") and pulsing,
New Order-on-weed post-punk ballad "Is It Really Over?" Meanwhile, those wanting more of
Video Age's glossy, early-'80s-era keyboard timbres will still find what they're looking for, they're just fleshed out more often by piano and Fender Rhodes. It's an album that puts the focus on song over production style, and given the melody-craft on display here, it's an enhancement. ~ Marcy Donelson
