Long Time Caller, First Time Listener is the beautifully titled sophomore full-length album from London-based indie pop/alt-country outfit Vegas Water Taxi. It’s actually a combination of the five tunes we knew from last fall’s Long Time Caller EP (we called it “a wry soundtrack to post-breakup self-sabotage”), supplemented with four new ones from the First Time Listener EP, forming a cohesive whole where humor and sadness intertwine.
Song titles such as Brat Summer, Birkenstocks, Ozempic (Celebrity Weight Loss Anxiety Blues), and Jamie XX seem to honor pop culture and the spirit of the times, but the underlying lyrics drag modern life for filth. Yet, with warm melodies and funny observations, this is comforting music that feels like sanity sneaking through the noise.
Long Time Caller, First Time Listener—produced and mixed by Louis Milburn and Ben Hambro—is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP, through PNKSLM Recordings. Featuring Ben Hambro (guitar, vocals, bass, synth), Fred Lawton (bass, guitar, vocals), Charlie Meyrick (drums, guitar, bass, vocals), Molly Shields (vocals), Rhodri Brooks (pedal steel), Louis Milburn (organ), and Holly Carpenter (violin).