Viva Voce

Some husbands and wives paint the bathroom or do jigsaw puzzles together. The Nashville-via-Portland husband and wife duo of Kevin and Anita Robinson produce, record and perform the entirety of their albums at home together. Their latest home brew is a quaint lo-fi psychedelic shoe-gazer of an album that utilizes a cornucopia of instruments. Their kitchen-sink approach to recording definitely gives the listener plenty to discover. You could make a fun game out of it. A theremin! A kazoo! Is he plucking a comb now?

The Heat Can Melt Your Brain is on Minty Fresh Records -- an appropriate home seeing as how Viva Voce’s sound can be found somewhere between the angelic vocals of The Cardigans and the quirky ironic pop of Papas Fritas (both Minty Fresh artists). At other times, Viva Voce sounds like a more laidback version of The Pixies and My Bloody Valentine, but with a more electronic groove.

As interesting as the album is, there really aren’t any standout tracks. “Mixtape = Love,” for example, though brilliantly titled, is too lethargic and ultimately unaffecting. I can already tell the album is a slow burn and I’ll probably appreciate it more with every listen, but I just don’t think the first listen will be strong enough to get people to come back for more. - Doug Kamin

Viva Voce is the husband-and-wife duo of Anita and Kevin Robinson. They are purveyors of a pleasant and sweet indie rock sound located somewhere on the harder side of Papas Fritas and the less experimental side of Elephant 6. Released in 2004, The Heat Can Melt Your Brain is their third album and it is their best so far. The songs are lively and memorable. "Alive With Pleasure" kicks things off with a peppy jangle, Anita's sweet vocals meshing nicely with the crunchy guitar lines. But apart from "Business Casual," a spooky blend of '80s post-punk and '90s neo-psych, and "High Highs," a less than successful though admirable foray into trip-hop soul, Viva Voce never stray too far from the sound of the opening track. Still, that's OK because they do it well. The duo has a fine grasp of dynamics and layers the sound with all sorts of sonic candy. Most of all, they have some killer songs. "The Lucky Ones" is like the best song the Blake Babies never recorded, "Daylight" and "Lesson No. 1" have great hooks, "Mixtape = Love" is lyrically cute and musically beautiful. There are no weak tracks apart from the failed experiment of "High Highs," and while you may not find yourself listening to the record every day, when you pull it out a month from now, it will still sound good. There is still a place for solid, sweet, and imaginative indie rock like The Heat Can Melt Your Brain in the mid-2000s, and Viva Voce are right smack in the middle of the top tier. ~ Tim Sendra, All Music Guide