For their sixth album,
the KVB's
Kat Day and
Nicholas Wood took inspiration from their time in Spain and the unfinished luxury villas they found there, left abandoned after the financial crisis of the late 2000s. On
Unity, however, those structures are symbols of potential, not pessimism. From the concrete forms on the album's cover to the tightly interlocked shoegaze and synth pop within, there's an architectural harmony that suggests that the future could be bright. Beginning with the sweeping synth vistas of "Sunrise Over Concrete" and "Unite"'s sleekly tooled message of bringing people together and closing with
Wood's command to "forget the days we left behind,"
Unity is held together by a surprising, and winning, optimism. In between,
Wood and
Day's wide embrace of possibilities extends to the different approaches they explore with the help of producer
Andy Savours. Of course,
the KVB still excel at meshing shoegaze and minimal electronics so effortlessly that they seem made for each other on "World on Fire," "Unbound," and the aptly sparkling "Lumens." However, it's just as satisfying to hear them stretch on a song like "Future," where
Day's soulful vocals and taut rhythms build on the moves they made toward the dancefloor on
Only Now Forever. This momentum continues on the strutting "Blind" and "Ideal Living," a tense, synthwave-inflected track that marks one of the few times shadows creep into the album's gleaming sound. Rounded out by the clever counterpoint on "Structural Index,"
Unity feels richly varied instead of disjointed, and it's a testament to
Wood and
Day's creativity that they're still finding fresh ways to express themselves this far into their career. ~ Heather Phares
