VAST

Jon Crosby and his one-man project VAST always seemed like a bizarre fit in the major-label world, so it should not seem surprising that his fourth album is an indie release. What's unusual about Turquoise & Crimson is that this two-disc set was originally released as a pair of download-only albums on Crosby's website starting in 2002. Based largely on fan feedback, Crosby transformed the best of these demos into 2004's Nude. Turquoise & Crimson, then, is a belated official release of the 22 original demos in their unvarnished state; as such, these songs tend to be rawer and more immediate than Crosby's three previous albums (including Nude itself), which tend to polish the rough edges off of his Nine Inch Nails-meets-Echo & the Bunnymen version of industrial mope rock. Here, songs like the epic ballad "Winter in My Heart" are stripped of their sometimes suffocating over-production, and are far stronger for it. Though naysayers will find Crosby's essential weaknesses unchanged -- foremost among them a stentorian vocal style that combines the worst affectations of both Creed's Scott Stapp and Bauhaus' Peter Murphy -- Turquoise & Crimson is essential for VAST fans. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide