Publicity for April describes this 40-minute CD as
Jon Crosby's "acoustic project," which is misleading because April does, in fact, use some electric instruments. But while April doesn't sound truly "unplugged" or truly acoustic-oriented, it is accurate to say that April contains some of the most rootsy and organic-sounding production that
VAST has had so far; April sounds electric, but not electronic or high-tech -- and that is a definite departure from some of the industrial and electro-goth production that
VAST has favored in the past. The more organic production on April seems to be
Crosby's way of saying that, at the end of the day,
VAST was always about songcraft more than production gloss or electro-beats. Of course, one could say the same thing about
Nine Inch Nails, one of
Crosby's main influences;
Johnny Cash's willingness to cover
Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" speaks volumes about
Trent Reznor's songwriting ability, and
Crosby doesn't value the art of songcraft any less than
Reznor. Drawing on influences ranging from
Nine Inch Nails to
U2 to
Sisters of Mercy, April contains some of
Crosby's strongest writing. The
Bono-isms on April are hard to miss, but while
U2 is ultimately a hopeful, idealistic band (despite dealing with some dark subject matter at times), April is full of brooding, melancholy songs; the fact that
Crosby favors a different production style on April doesn't mean that he has let go of goth rock's gloomy influence. And why should he? There is no law stating that music has to be cheerful to have artistic merit. In the past, some of
VAST's albums have been described as uneven, but being consistent is not a problem for
Crosby on the well-crafted April. ~ Alex Henderson