This is the 29th entry in the Mayhem Virgins series which has been running since 2018. Here is where we showcase artists that have never featured in these pages before. This time it is the turn of London based Voka Gentle. The band are twins Ellie and Imogen Mason and William J Stokes who is married to Imogen. Imogen and Ellie play keyboards and William the guitar and all three provide vocals. I was privileged to see them play live at the Thursday band showcase during Un-Convention last week in Manchester at Night and Day. I have been going to gigs regularly for almost 54 years and I have never seen a band quite like them, truly original and almost impossible to slot into a genre box.
Their stage presence was powerful and mesmerising a psych behemoth. Imagine Talking Heads going disco with some Matt Bellamy style vocal histrionics. They are funky on a nuclear scale, fission funk maybe. But in my notes I described them as Dark Matter Disco and for me it sums them up well. Kai, another delegate at Un-Convention said he watched them and thought “Evil Abba” and I can definitely get with that description!
They formed in summer 2014 as an acoustic/folk trio using the name Wovoka Gentle which I believe was derived from poems in Flying Over Sonny Liston by Gary Short. They soon moved on from a traditional folk style into something completely different. Some have described them as avant-garde, neo-psychedelic, and motorik electronic sound infused with field recordings and performance art. That all rings true, although I assume that isn’t the John Lennon definition of avante-garde, as in “avant-garde is French for shit”,
Voka Gentle became their shortened name before they officially released any music. There were initially three EPs. ‘Yellow’ (2015), ‘Blue’ (2015) and ‘Red’ (2016). Then in 2019 they released their first long player ‘Start Clanging Cymbals’ on Nude Records which was followed in 2021 by their sophomore album ‘WRITHING!’. The world had to wait a little longer for album number three ‘Domestic Bliss’ released in February this year on state51 Records. In May there released an excellent EP of remixes from ‘Domestic Bliss’.
They have a busy gig schedule and have supported the Flaming Lips and played quite a few festivals including Pitchfork Music Festival (Paris), Boardmasters, Kendal Calling, Sea Change Festival, and Nozstock. They have also scored music for theatre productions which include an adaptation of ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape’ at London’s Bridewell Theatre in 2014. I need to see them live, I hope they play in York or Leeds soon.
I have listened to them a lot since I returned from Un-Convention and right now my favourite songs are “Creon I” and “Cheddar Man” from ‘Domestic Bliss and “The Black Swell” from ‘WRITHING!’ I am sure that will change regularly as I delve deeper into tack catalogue. I came to Voka Gentle quite late, but I am so glad that I found them. What a stunning band!
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