music: Vuggy's draw is strong
John MacQueen, The Peak

Have you ever noticed that in the calm of a snowstorm, sounds are a lot crisper? Well being a science student, I set out to test this hypothesis and went to hear the band Vuggy who played their second indie night at the SFU pub while snow fell outside. Despite missing their lead guitarist, one of the vocalists spraining her wrist, the other vocalist with a cold and the campus suffering a snowstorm, and playing to a considerably thinned crowd, the show went on.

Vuggy, who are self-described as "Tori Amos fighting it out with the Corrs in a dark alley on a rainy night with Oasis as jeering onlookers" played an acoustic-unplugged show to my delight. This changed their sound significantly, softening it and placing more weight on the vocals. To paraphrase them on their peformance, it was an experiment to strip everything down to its essentials and measure both the strong and weak points of their technique and style.

There is something inherently pleasing about acoustic sound. It seems to play directly into our minds, infusing us with either feelings of utter calm or arousing our very senses to the epitome of pleasure. When Vuggy played in the pub, they turned what is ordinarily a robust and vibrant setting, into an intimate scene filled with musical nuances. The control they demonstrated over both their instruments and their particular brand of lyrical folk made the outside world melt away for a moment, like the many flakes of snow plastered to the windows. Although they were lacking their lead guitarist and their sound equipment, it did not seem to diminish their performance. Even though at times their harmonic lines seemed slightly predictable, the malefluous tones they employed within their chosen melodic lines soared with a freedom not usually associated with folk music. Part of the appeal may have been the sparse audience, made up mainly of die-hard fans or admirers of new music from around campus.

"Vuggy plays in a sort of soulful folky style...the two singers harmonize well and complement each others voices. Overall a pretty entertaining show considering the lack of volume that some songs could probably use," commented Randy Williams of the local band The Blend. "The band sounded tight despite loss of personnel or electronics," he said.

If interested in Vuggy you can find out more information at www.vuggy.net or look for them in a snowstorm near you.

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