Something Good Is Happening. Voom

True WoNoBlog aficionados will have read this before, but for all others, this is the first Voom album since 2006. The songs had been percolating in songwriter Buzz Moller's head for years but refused to come out of there; until they did. The first sign of life was completely at the beginning of 2024, in the first singles' post of 2024. Well over a year later there is Something Good Is Happening and I dare to state that it is a musical event of some proportions.

Voom is Buzz Moller, Murray Fisher, Nick Buckton, and Josh Sorenson. They are all multi-instrumentalist, so do not ask me who plays what, where. There clearly is more than one vocalist as well. If anything, Something Good Is Happening is a fantastic trip to listen to. So many different things are happening all over the record. From trippy slacker rock, to sludgy alternative rock or a dreampop opening track. It is all there and so much more.

Why it took nineteen years to produce a new album, I do not know. There were hundreds of demos apparently that were re-recorded, discarded, picked up again, only to be discarded once again. Until label Flying Nun said, and now it's about time to release a new record and the band agreed and started working on tracks in earnest, leading to that first release in 2024, 'We Don't Care', followed by several more singles, as this blog attest to.

On the basis of these singles it was almost impossible for Something Good Is Happening to be an average or worse album and it is not. Having been able to listen to the album for a few weeks, I found myself getting back to it time and again. Voom takes me on a musical adventure. If I hear any influences on this album it is Nirvana, the unplugged version. Voom has that same approach to its songs and from there wanders off into its own universe, picking up a little here and there along the road, including The Beatles ('Most Beautfiful Girl'). A universe that is dreamy and all about taking your time. The best example of that is 'I Love You Girl'. The song seems extremely sloppy but listen a little more attentively and a host of sounds, instruments and voices present themselves to you, opening up the song like a sunflower to the sun. Voom hides a lot of beauty behind its alternative, relaxed attire.

I have no idea what Voom released before 2024, but if its this good, I have some catching up to do. In May 2025 I have another album to note for the end of year list. It may have taken 16 years to write, polish and finish, the title of the album is so well chosen. Something Good Is Happening is a must listen album.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order Something Good Is Happening here:

https://voomnz.bandcamp.com/album/something-good-is-happening