San Diego Serenade: The Vision Of A Dying World

The Vision Of A Dying World

Back in like 8th grade, my mom was kind of fanatical about the music I was allowed to listen to. She attended meetings at my middle school put on by Tipper Gore's PMRC where they would show videos of Ice-T's "Cop Killa" and The Geto Boyz, and come home very distressed about what she had seen, as if purchasing those cd's were the next logical step for a young boy interested in Nirvana and Pearl Jam. I remember going through a friends packaging of "Vitalogy" and crossing out the profanity with a pen, then crossing out other random words to make it look like it was done that way on purpose. My mom even balked at Nirvana Unplugged because of the song title of "Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam." Little did she suspect that that song was not the upside down cross, goats head black metal anthem she no doubt envisioned, but a simple little ballad whose heaviest instrument was the accordion that even she could conceivably end up liking.

San Diego's own The Vision Of A Dying World work in the same manner: scary sounding band name that seems to not really apply to the music. And they've got an accordion. The Vision Of A Dying World performs acoustic songs that have been compared to the music of Iron and Wine, mainly because of the reserved vocals and accoustic nature of the music. I hear the comparison, but you have to imagine Iron and Wine with a banjo mixed with a few Sea Shanties, an sometimes prominent percussion section, plus the occasional kind of group vocals that you've heard before on the Grateful Dead's "Ripple" and of course the accordion.

The sum is, of course, much greater than its parts, so check out the posted MP3s here (my favorite is "Travis Wayne" which features the Grateful Dead "Ripple" effect), on the bands myspace site, and on purevolume, which I've never heard of but where you can download a few more MP3s. The band is currently playing a few shows up in Redlands but then heading back to San Diego, where you can catch them on April 6th at Dream Street in Ocean Beach. Many thanks to Troy Johnson from CityBeat for pointing out the band to me.

MP3s:
-Travis Wayne
-Barges
-Sisters

CD available for purchase at CDbaby.