| VNV Nation | |
|---|---|
VNV Nation Live at New City, Edmonton, September 2007 |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | Synthpop Futurepop EBM Industrial |
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Labels | Anachron, dependent, Discordia, Energy, Metropolis, Off-Beat, SubSpace, Wax Trax!/TVT |
| Website | http://www.vnvnation.com |
| Members | |
| Ronan Harris, Mark Jackson | |
VNV Nation are a British/Irish electronic music band originally from Dublin, Ireland and Essex, United Kingdom and now based in Hamburg, Germany. They combine elements of electro-industrial, trance, synthpop and electronic body music (EBM). The members are Ronan Harris and Mark Jackson. The "VNV" in the name stands for Victory not Vengeance, in keeping with the group's motto, "One should strive to achieve, not sit in bitter regret."[1]
Contents |
The group's first album, Advance and Follow, was released in 1995. This was a mixture of danceable synthesizer melodies and harsh electronic beats firmly in the tradition of middle-era EBM, supplemented with elements of orchestral music. Their next release, 1998's Praise the Fallen, continued largely in this vein, and they began to enjoy a larger degree of commercial success.
During that time Harris also wrote for Side-Line Magazine of which he was the webmaster until 1999.
1999's Empires was their breakthrough album, gaining them widespread commercial success (topping the German DAC charts for seven weeks) and increasing the visibility of the genre. While in the vein of their previous two works, Empires expanded the bombastic synthesizer lines and incorporated tighter song organization with verses and catchy choruses. Furthermore, the harsher 'sheet metal instrumentals' of albums like Praise the Fallen were largely gone, and the music as a whole was far more complex with multiple-layered arpeggios and pads. This album was composed using only one synthesizer (the popular Access Virus) and two (rather low-quality) samplers.
Their 2002 album, Futureperfect, while retaining many Industrial elements represented a departure in many ways, largely away from EBM and towards synthpop, even incorporating some elements of trance. Furthermore, some neoclassical instrumental pieces were included in the album. This shift caused their mainstream popularity to increase still further, but alienated some of their fans who preferred their earlier harsher and darker sound, leading to a somewhat weakened reputation in the "underground" music community. Nonetheless, they embarked on several highly successful world tours in 2002 and 2003. Notably, the album was produced using mainly software synthesizers instead of hardware synthesizers. Some hardware was used, but the majority of instruments used were software programs.
Their 2005 album, Matter + Form, expanded on the soundscape established with Futureperfect while also adding a harder and more mechanical sound in some songs. Notable for this harder-edged sound was the first single Chrome. Also of note is the lack of effects applied to the vocals, a departure from previous albums, which allows Ronan Harris' voice more space in the mix. Of course, there were also several songs with a softer and more pensive theme. Some songs even had a slight "rock" feeling to them, mostly with how drum sequences and bass-lines were arranged, the most obvious being the album-closing song Perpetual. The instrument assortment used in the production was much expanded upon from previous albums and everything from the Access Virus to a custom-made analog modular synthesizer and several software synthesizers were used. This album was also the first time the band used an outside producer.
VNV Nation's next studio album was Judgement, released to the world on 4 April 2007. Containing 10 tracks, it continued the evolution of the VNV Nation sound.
On 25 April 2007 at the sold-out show at The Metro in Chicago, Ronan Harris has stated that the rumors about Judgement being the last album were false and that more was to come and that Judgement was just the beginning.
At the alternative electronic music festival Infest in Bradford on 26 August 2007, just after the murder of Sophie Lancaster, Harris dedicated the song "Illusion" to her and contacted the family soon afterwards to offer his condolences.[2][3]
Two years after "Judgement", the box set Reformation 1 was released in Europe on 24 April 2009. US release on 12 May.
The next album, Of Faith, Power and Glory was mentioned on the band's MySpace blog. Harris confirmed to Side-Line Magazine that they were aiming for late April to release the album, which would be titled "Of Faith, Power and Glory", or as Harris described it: "The 3 things that people desire and which can make you or destroy you!".[4] Due to the release of "Reformation 1" in mid April, the release of the album was postponed to June 2009, and the album was released in the U.S. on CD and in the iTunes Store on June 23, 2009. It was released in Europe on 19 June 2009.[5]
A new remix album called Crossing The Divide was to be released on 8 June 2010,[6] but it has since been delayed for an unknown period of time. The update on the official website cites unforeseen circumstances for the delay, but have promised that additional tracks will be added.[7]
There were plans for a number of extended and enhanced re-releases of previous albums in 2010 "with lots of extras" as well, however, these also appear to have been caught up in the Crossing The Divide delays.[8]
On September 16th, 2011 VNV Nation's newest studio album Automatic, was released for most of Europe, with a physical CD released on October 25th, 2011 in the United States. It has been announced that the Crossing The Divide EP will be made available for free due to the delays.[9]
As of 2011, VNV Nation has remixed the songs of 24 artists.