Four years after their 2018 debut caught the post-rock world’s attention, VLMV are back with a more streamlined approach on follow-up Sing With Abandon. Mainman Pete Lambrou explains why he felt it was time to move away from guitars and craft more piano-based music that speaks directly to the listener.

Words: Alex Lynham

Pete Lambrou, inside his own head while chasing Radiohead.

For their second album, post-rockers VLMV, pronounced ‘Alma’, have taken a different tack. Their first record, Stranded, Not Lost, was a guitar-heavy affair that relied on loop pedals to build its ambient soundscapes. For all their richness and complexity, most of their songs were still playable by two musicians with guitars.

“Writing-wise it started as a solo thing,” explains primary songwriter Pete Lambrou, “and I persuaded Ciaran [Morahan] to join, because I was always a fan of his screwdriver guitar-playing antics from [the pair’s other band] Codes In The Clouds. So I think he elevated the songs that were there. He turned them from maybe being a bit too wet into something a little bit darker, but certainly more interesting.”