Coming out from Thessaloniki, Greece, Jimmy Lips has been involved in the making of a lot of good music over the past years. Kid Galax and Psychedelic Trips To Death are also bands in which he is contributor. Under the tenderly sweet name Vagina Lips he has already delivered an amazing album in ‘Athanasia’. As it seems there is still a lot of stuff to follow…
‘Elixir’ is an exciting album, it has character, beat and feeling.
Starting off with ‘Army of Flowers’ a track that reminded me a lot of music from his childhood friend Monsieur Minimal, a very melodic and catchy track. Reference to the legacy of those earlier days comes later on with ‘Teenage Galaxies (1993 Revisited)’ a reprised 1993 original track and the Neil Young-ish’ Dreaming Is All I Have’.
Still, ‘Elixir’ has louder moments than the aforementioned. Tracks like ‘Sometimes When You Lose You Actually Win’ and ‘New Emotions’ are the kind of pop, in a not so pop-like way, music that Vagina Lips are so into doing.
The band allows itself to go a lot slower and soft on ‘The Day We First Met (Radioactive Love)’ and ‘Help Me To Help You’. Beautiful tracks, both of them, allowing a more sensitive side to come up in front.
The other two tracks in the album are ‘City Of Death’, a visit to the far-west, a song that I would like to hear in a Tarantino movie, and ;I.C.B’ which, if we trust Jimmy’s own words, will be the track for closing the live concerts as well as this album.
Personally, I do trust his words, this is the kind of noisy track that this band would like to bond you farewell with in any case.
As a conclusion: This is a very honest and straightforward album with a lot of heart in it. It is also very enjoyable to listen to without having to turn too commercial. Cannot wait for a chance to see them live.
Dimitris Mavraidis