Vague Angels
Let's Duke It Out at Kilkenny Katz' PA005
Release Date: March 6, 2006 (CD)




Listen
The Princess and the Newt
The Vague Angels of Vagary
From the Let's Duke It Out At Kilkenny Katz' CD (PA005)

Watch
You can now watch the video for "The Vague Angels of Vagary" at the mysterious Rockwell Palace.

Press
"Vague Angels create harmonically rich, droning textures that basically serve as a backdrop for the vocals, which are the main focus. The lyrics feature a lot of pretty heady stuff, as well as more immediate, vivid poetic images. Chris Leo has the ability to take an everyday or mundane lyric (like "The dust covered everything") and imbue it with a feeling of deep significance, to great effect. I believe that Chris Leo and the Vague Angels often receive comparisons to Lou Reed. I see some lyrical affinity, but what really comes to my mind for conveying what they're doing is Serge Gainsbourg's "Bonnie and Clyde" - a kind of lush, repeating harmonic texture with more or less spoken lyrics and only the suggestion of a verse/chorus/bridge structure." -- Deli Magazine

"On his impressive debut, Let’s Duke It Out at Kilkenny Katz, folky-Zeppelin-III–like jigs dance around the maypole only to hightail it straight to the lounge for arty, melodic, loopy, and jangling Lou Reed–like top-shelf monologues. Just when things get too smoky (and verbose) he dashes back to Irish fields of clover." -- Shawn Bosler, Village Voice

"Some guys have their fingers in all the pies, and ex-Van Pelt, Native Nod and The Lapse guitarist Chris Leo appears to be one of them. Vague Angels represents but one project towards which his insatiable artistic deluge is channeled. " "Musically, Vague Angels showcases a fresh, more refined approach for Leo. His songwriting is direct, eradicating any suggestions of extended collaboration despite the array of instruments bound by Kilkenny Katz’s lush, layered production. The bouncy rhythms of 'The Princess and the Newt' sustain melancholic sensitivity, which continue during the course of the instrumental 'Holiday Guitar.' In the most lucid of terms, Vague Angels is upbeat and resonates with a folky twang, which provides an apt home for Leo’s literary quirks." -- Mike Wright, LostAtSea.net

"...these tracks hold the listeners' attention through the lyrical beauty of Chris's guitar lines, coupled with the subtle complexity of his arrangements."
"One of the album's highlights, "The Princess and the Newt," exemplifies the richness of Chris's sonic tapestries. Propelled by interwoven bouncy acoustic guitars - both picked and strummed - and accompanied by various subtle keyboard flourishes, it has a warm, autumnal mystique that renders the narrative all the more poignant and intriguing. Equally endearing is "The Vague Angels of Vaguery," a bright and bubbly electronic soundscape upon which Chris tiptoes lyrically, in a dreamlike tone. Elsewhere, the eight minute epic "Just Blow, Don Quixote! Blow!" is a gorgeous ballad for keyboard, acoustic guitar, and bass that trumps both those standouts for sheer emotional resonance. Here Chris' vocal resemblance to Lou Reed is uncanny in a good way - he channels Lou's terse phrasing for what is his most poetic-sounding moment on the record." - Ben Ewing, Delusions of Adequacy

"Vague Angels is a vehicle for Leo's stripped-down acoustic songs that seem to beg the listener to enter into a dense, dreamlike state. These complex arrangements certainly don't sound like the stuff created by an ex-East Coast punk... these songs are closer to Mars than Manhattan (there's some Ziggy Stardust actions going on as well." - OhMyRockness.com

One Sheets
Vague Angels - Let's Duke It Out at Kilkenny Katz'
Vague Angels - Themepark Ashtray 7"

       
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