“In These Times…” is the latest release by Mark Vennis & Different Place, an outstanding English band based in Petersfield. It’s their second piece of work in 2024, arriving as a more than appropriate continuation of “Small Town Vampire;” an exceptional full-length album consisting of seven marvelous songs that you should immediately check out. Carrying two songs, the title track and the remix called “Sure Ain’t No Crime,” this brand-new single release showcases an innovative approach to songwriting, composing, arranging, and producing, vividly showcasing all the abilities, skills, and experience of the entire band. For those who missed our previous writings, Mark Vennis & Different Place combine several complementary music genres to illustrate their rich and luxurious sound. Perhaps indie rock comes to mind first, but you’ll notice how some of the finest properties borrowed from garage rock, hard rock, rock ‘n’ roll, alternative, and power pop found their way into this sonic equation. Still, you’ll probably notice some other elements included along the way, as Mark Vennis & Different Place always find ways to surprise their listeners. These two tracks are more than rock-solid proof of their boundless songwriting and composing capabilities, and there are no doubts they will appeal to even the pickiest music enthusiasts.
This release commences with “In These Times…,” a magnificent composition where the melody and aggression collide in the most harmonious way possible. This track carries all those vital elements of garage rock, rock ‘n’ roll, and power pop music, but with vividly hearable levitations towards some classic seventies punk rock. There are generous servings of rawness, abrasiveness, and grittiness achieved by stacking multiple layers of heavily distorted guitars. Speaking of the guitars, the interplay between rhythm and lead guitars creates a perfect backdrop for all the vocals to shine upon. You’ll notice how the rhythm guitar delivers cleverly assembled, flawlessly performed, powerful chord progressions and riffs on one side while the lead shines with many leads, themes, melodies, harmonies, and other sonic maneuvers. These guitar works simultaneously offer rawness and aggression, but there are layers of melodies that almost sound psychedelic, soothing, and ethereal. Anyone even remotely into writing and composing music knows that’s a difficult task to achieve but Mark Vennis & Different Place did it with such ease. You’ll also notice how these instrumentations shape such a retro, nostalgic sound that evokes all the significant eras for garage, punk rock, and rock ‘n’ roll music, times when all these music genres reigned supreme. Still, the sound quality that meets all the trends in contemporary music production serves as a counterbalance, making this track accessible for listeners interested in more modern rock sound.
Of course, this composition wouldn’t sound this good without the equally impressive rhythm section. There are equally intricate, vividly hearable, warm-sounding basslines rumbling beneath all those luxurious guitar layers, providing more than necessary heftiness, clearness, and depth to the track while binding all the orchestrations together with drums. The excellent drumming performance based upon tastefully arranged, flawlessly performed, well-accentuated, moderate beats, breaks, fills and other percussive acrobatics keeps the remainder of the band in line while dictating groove and pace. If guitars play a significant role in shaping such a perfect backdrop for all the vocal maneuvers, then the rhythm section acts as an adequate backbone that holds all the orchestrations together. As you can see, Mark Vennis & Different Place thought about everything while writing, composing, arranging, and producing their latest single. They even thought about the tiniest details, nuances, and accentuations, making “In These Times…” such a pleasant listening experience worth repeating over and over again. If you dig deeper into the song’s core, you’ll notice there is a perfect structure, adorned with many segments, instrumental layers, and brilliant ideas, all those qualities that define this exceptional song.
“Sure Ain’t No Crime” is a remixed rendition of “In These Times…” It brings much more polished, cleaner, smoother instrumentations, allowing the vocals to breathe more. Every note and strum over the strings is vividly hearable like in the original, but with less distortion included. That means less rawness, abrasiveness, and grittiness, a perfect song for those listeners interested in milder, mellower, punk rock-inspired rock ‘n’ roll music. The rhythm section remains intact, with all those heavy, warm basslines and steady rhythmic patterns still lurking around. Like the original, “Sure Ain’t No Crime” is a perfect garage rock track, it brings all the qualities of garage rock, punk rock, rock ‘n’ roll, and power pop upfront. All in all, both renditions are surely one of those songs you don’t want to miss if you’re looking for cleverly composed and flawlessly performed rock ‘n’ roll music. Mark Vennis & Different Place once again showcase their knack for writing perfect tracks where all their qualities shine in the limelight. They left no stone unturned while working on these songs, proving that rock ‘n’ roll music still has so much to offer. This marvelous single is available on all streaming platforms. Don’t miss it!
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