Live albums give songs a different feel than their more polished counterparts, whether it’s simply recording live in the studio or recording an actual live performance. In the case of Austin’s Vex, it’s the latter. Motivated by a desire to play their most challenging songs in a live setting, they chose one song from each of their four releases to track live in studio at The Machine Shop.
“This recording acts as a sort of career retrospective, in which we chose one song from every album that we’ve historically had trouble pulling off live,” guitarist Ciaran McCloskey explains. “We thought the availability of such a glorious studio would be a great opportunity to grind each song out until we had versions that we could live with. Each track was performed live in the studio with no editing or additional tracking, and plenty of warts to be found. The overall experience was excruciating but ultimately very encouraging.”
Listen to a recording of “No Such Thing” from their 2013 LP Memorious below.
