Album review: The Sedan Vault, Mardi Gras of the Sisypha

Mardi Gras of the Sisypha: anyone who remembers their high school greek mythology immediately recalls the king Sisyphus who defied death and was therefore punished to roll a rock up a hill, but whenever he reached the top, the rock would roll back down. The Sedan Vault captures the Sisyphean task of life in a six tracks of post-noise rock, though with a lot of melody. This is a concept EP and follows the story of three different characters who are trying to escape their views of our world. But in the universe of The Sedan Vault our world is haunted with delusions and distorted imagery.

The style of The Sedan Vault is hard to describe and label. It can be called progressive rock, but don’t expect Pink Floyd. It can be called postrock or noiserock, but don’t expect Mogwai in their old-school days. The Sedan Vault sounds mostly like the little brother of The Mars Volta, although Sedan’s sound is less chaotic and more melodic. The Sedan Vault focuses more on rhythm and melody than on pure artistic noise. The vocals by Rutger, Marius and Frederik Meeuwis do sound a lot like Cedric Bixler-Zavala, the singer of The Mars Volta.

Beside the obvious similarities to The Mars Volta, The Sedan Vault stands out lonely along the firmament of progressive noiserock, with their compositions sharpened like a surgical scalpel and their lyrics reaching literary heights. The album, though short in duration, sounds and feels complete, and should grace the CD collection of any respected music lover. Mardi Gras of the Sisypha is the musical equivalent of surrealistic imagery… and that’s quite a feat!

Artist: The Sedan Vault
Album: Mardi Gras of the Sisypha
Duration: 6 tracks (0:33:36)
Label: Funtime Records
Released: beginning of 2006

Listen to (Are Burning Walls A) Hologram? (ASX file)