• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Vinyl Chapters

Vinyl Chapters

The Stories Behind The Music

  • Home
  • About
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • News
  • Submit
  • Shop
  • Contact
  • Cart
Home » articles » Weird Milk: Vienna – Single Review

Weird Milk: Vienna – Single Review

September 1, 2021 by Maia Clews

Weird Milk

Vibrant, timely and sun-drunk, Weird Milk’s latest single is an ode to a bygone era. 

The North London retro boys who made their mark on the scene with their initial singles Honey, I’m Around and Anything You Want are back after just over a year and a change in their line-up.

Vienna is the lead single off their upcoming EP, We Were Strangers, due to drop later this autumn, and is one to add to your summer playlists.

The track opens with a gentle acoustic solo, before ripping to life in a symphony of staccato guitars, underlying drums, and the tingles of a tambourine. Lead vocalist, Alex Griffiths, gives off early Arctic Monkeys vibes (if a little too chirpy for the likes of Alex Turner) with his warbling, drawn-out voice that feels quintessentially British. It’s then all upended as the song transitions into the chorus; light and airy, full of warm echoey vocals and heavy reverb on the bass guitar, reminiscent of beachy bangers from the 60s (think Here Comes the Sun). And this makes perfect sense considering Griffiths took inspiration from the likes of sensations such as The Band and Paul McCartney & The Wings. Even the cover art screams 70s psychedelia. 

Weird Milk - Vienna

But there’s a sombre note to the song. The lyrics ‘god, I hate to feel again / Feel your judgements scold my sins / They’d been wrapped against my naked passions / You awake in him’ contrasts the entire mood of the song. There is a sense of discontentment, of self-loathing, of waking up each morning, wishing you could be someone else, somewhere else, in another time – which, sadly, many of us can relate to. ‘Vienna is a very personal release to me,’ quotes Griffiths. ‘It was written at a moment in my life where I reached a crossroads and was totally stuck.’ 

The entire track, with its sun-drenched sounds and nods to a decade that encapsulated liberation and expression, feels like an escape – a brief glimmer of a time when things were different. Griffiths and co. croon ‘would you whisk me forever away / To a timeless and heavenly place?’ 

I can see fans singing and swaying along to this one at festivals this summer (they played 110 Above, Standon Calling, Latitude and Wilderness) and it’s a good one for picnics at the beach (whilst we still can). But there are layers of complexity that you are likely to miss without deeper reflection.

Score: 4/5

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Review

About Maia Clews

The daughter of a DJ and a rather eccentric father, music is simply accepted as a part of Maia's life and soon grew into a personal love affair.

Reader Interactions

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Search

Subscribe

Subscribe to our Newsletter

* indicates required

Recent Posts

Charlie Puth

Charlie Puth: Charlie – Review

Calvin Harris

Calvin Harris: Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2 – Review

JP Hoe

New Music Fridays – 5th August 2022

Footer

Navigation

Home

About

Reviews

Features

News

Submit

Contact Us

Shop

Search

Recent Posts

  • Taylor Swift: Midnights – Album Review
  • Charlie Puth: Charlie – Review
  • Calvin Harris: Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2 – Review
  • New Music Fridays – 5th August 2022
  • Hayley Kiyoko: Panorama – Review

Social Media

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

Affiliate Disclosure

Vinyl Chapters is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. In doing so, this helps us continue providing free content. It does not increase the price for you in any way.

Copyright © 2023 Vinyl Chapters | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Editorial Team