Schvitz - Vulfpeck

Before the new year ended, Michigan-originating funk band Vulfpeck graced us with a new album. The band is known for its minimal, groovy sound where instruments harmonize instead of compete, as well as some humor mixed in. Both attributes are the groundwork for the band’s sixth studio album, Schvitz.

The album hits it off the back with the nonsensical-vocal song, Sauna, the first single of the album. It’s immediately catchy and sets the tune for the entire album. However, each song in the album is clearly distinct, with half of the tracks featuring Michigan R&B vocalist Antwaun Stanley. His vocals work well with the beats provided by Vulfpeck, resulting in a soulful and strong sound. His best contributions are seen in New Guru, Simple Step, and Serve Somebody (A Bob Dylan cover that sounds completely reinvented for Schvitz).

Vulfpeck member Theo Katzman does provides vocals for one of the tracks, All That’s Left of Me is You, a simple yet catchy song that is one of the album’s slower tracks. Romanian Drinking Song is the only instrumental song of the album, and it is just four minutes of straight grooving, and is a blast of a time.

However, the album does have some lower points. Earworm is a song that I know is one that will not be for everyone, by any means. It’s a great example of the humor of Vulfpeck, being a song about earworm songs with a chorus that’s meant to stick your head for hours, but with the interesting to say the least vocals, I don’t think I will be itching to revisit this song again (but that chorus probably won’t leave me alone for a while.)

The last song of the album is another weaker entry on the album, with it feeling very barren in terms of personality, and if not for one verse, I don’t think I would have remembered it much at all. But when Vulfpeck started randomly singing about Charmander and other Pokemon, I almost spat out my breakfast just in sheer confusion. While calling Charmander “a nasty boy” over and over is random, its totally in line with Vulfpeck’s humor and it helps to add to an otherwise forgettable song.

Schvitz is a great way for a great year of music to have concluded, and is yet another solid entry is Vulfpeck’s impressive catalog of music.