Track By Tracks: Venus Fly Trap - Déjà Vu: Recollection & Rarities 1986-2026 (2026)

1. MORPHINE:

“As dark as intelligent pop ever gets...is a rich concoction totally out of keeping with indie pop, but expected to compete on just such a farcical level. The band's compelling mixture of sublimely irritating lyrics and cutting guitar.”

2. HOW THE MIGHTY:

“Dark vocals, schizophrenic guitar bass lines entrap you in psychedelia and grate you with feedback.”

3. DESOLATION RAILWAY:

“Venus in Furs? Heroin? I quite happily attribute this quartet with a wry sense of humour...a feedback-assisted, rigidly executed rock manoeuvre.”

4. UP THERE:

“Box clever here, a hypnotically rumbling tune unravelling out of a bright cacophony, some clattering song in the catacombs.”

5. ROCKET USA:

“Their dark malevolent malaise has developed on its own terms. The very fact that eight more songs have sprung forth from the cauldron suggests that VFT aren’t messing about. In other words, the longer they go on playing this scary music, the more convincing it becomes.”

6. CLOUD 9LIPS:

“All the songs have a hard-hitting drum battery, choppy guitars, some clever keyboards, all overlaid with a voice that snarls, sneers, and threatens. The VFT has an identity of its own. From swelling keyboards to that mock Arabic wail.”

7. EUROPA:

“VFT is the flowering of a nasty sort of Northampton dream. This record is not on a government loan. This record does what it wants in a twisted sort of way, and I commend it to you as something bright. Its the only one of its kind, and that counts for something.”

8. ACHILLES HEEL:

“VFT have never played by the rules, preferring instead to make their own mark on the music industry by ignoring both convention and fashion in favour of their own belief and conviction.”

9. MOSCOW MENAGERIE:

“Leather clad msyterions hybrid, a track that should find itself clutched to many black-clad bosoms.”

10. PULP SISTER:

“Semi concept, darkly suggestive of that pre-goth rock mid 80s period, the musicianship is strong, all overlaid with a nifty Doorsy Hammond organ, get more spacey in a Hawkwind way...maybe the Doors or 13th Floor Elevators with a hint of goth”.

11. 13 O’CLOCK:

“This offering mixes Psychic TV with hints of the Velvet Underground, very dark, sparse ambient Hawkwind...Black psychedelic Sisters...futurist psyche outs, paranoia, obsession...classic film noir for your ears...forget everything you ever knew, this is radiant.”

12. SEE NO EVIL:

“Incredible piece of creativity sees the band exploring new territories. The influences range from gothic rock to industrial and trippy psychedelic hypnotics.”

13. METROPOLIS:

“It has a filmic quality that wouldn’t sound out of place in the Naked Lunch or other sci-fi/noir thrillers”

14. SABOTAGE:

“VFT can be catchy, poppy even, incredibly accessible, they can also get into a dark, threatening, or even minimalist mood.”

15. HUMAN FLY:

“They play with fragile yet confrontational musical forms, revealing their deft hand in musical narration. A pity there aren’t more like them.

16. GEMINI LOUNGE:

“Openly inviting and infectious record by a mile, there isn’t a duff moment on this, and it's so ludicrously charming, I can't think why anyone wouldn’t like this.”

17. VITESSE:

“ Totally engaging throughout, and despite the band’s gothic lineage, never takes itself too seriously, Dr. Who-inspired new wave ditty with a disco-beat propelled gem that warns of femme fatales and carnal delights.

18. VOODOO VOODOO:

“Feels almost like eighties new pop, the cooler end of what would go on to become the commercial New Romantic wave, melds Gun Club grooves with B52’s warped deliveries and then ramps up the intensity until it feels more like the soundtrack to the last party before the apocalypse.

19. CONTROL ADDICTS:

Re-make, re-model, taking the parts from a religious overdose song, add electricity, and end up being a Frankenstein monster lurching towards you.

20. BEBE:

Homage to early sci-fi pioneers from the forbidden planet,retro-future new wave electronics...warning warning...

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