Jon Crosby and his one-man project
VAST always seemed like a bizarre fit in the major-label world, so it should not seem surprising that his fourth album is an indie release. What's unusual about Turquoise & Crimson is that this two-disc set was originally released as a pair of download-only albums on
Crosby's website starting in 2002. Based largely on fan feedback,
Crosby transformed the best of these demos into 2004's Nude. Turquoise & Crimson, then, is a belated official release of the 22 original demos in their unvarnished state; as such, these songs tend to be rawer and more immediate than
Crosby's three previous albums (including Nude itself), which tend to polish the rough edges off of his
Nine Inch Nails-meets-
Echo & the Bunnymen version of industrial mope rock. Here, songs like the epic ballad "Winter in My Heart" are stripped of their sometimes suffocating over-production, and are far stronger for it. Though naysayers will find
Crosby's essential weaknesses unchanged -- foremost among them a stentorian vocal style that combines the worst affectations of both
Creed's
Scott Stapp and
Bauhaus'
Peter Murphy -- Turquoise & Crimson is essential for
VAST fans. ~ Stewart Mason