Album premiere: The Sylvia Platters - Vivian Elixir
The Cups N Cakes Network is extremely pleased to be celebrating the release of The Sylvia Platters’ new record Vivian Elixir, which was released today. We’ve been fans of the band for a few years now, reviewing “Kool Aid Blue” off of this record for our Quick Picks column in February 2024, with writer Sean Davis Newton calling it a “vividly drawn recording that you can’t help but get stuck in your head”.
Vivian Elixir is a relatively quick listen, coming in under 25 minutes, but the band manages to pull from nearly every era of classic songwriting and production, never leaning into one era or sound so much that it sounds like a genre exercise as opposed to a genuine love of the band’s vast catalogue of influences. Notably, the band has found a unique mix of early oughts pop-rock songwriting combined with late 70s/early 80s synth and reverb style production. “Heated Meeting” is a notable departure from this sound, turning up the heat late in the tracklisting for a more punk rock affair, which serves as a welcome diversion from the more mid-tempo vibe of the rest of the record.
The album is out today, and can be found on all streaming services, or purchased via Bandcamp below. You can catch their album release party on April 27th if you happen to be in Abbotsford (with an absolutely stacked lineup, I might add), with guests Devours and Hollow Twin.