Name: Viv
Brand: Spice

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

DAIS196LP-C2

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Colour

Yellow

Colour details

Neon Yellow

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Discogs ID

[r23328842]

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Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: Yes

Extended format

Extended format: Yes

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2022-06-17

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

011586674776

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Total Cap

1 / Extended format: Yes / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: Yes / Signed copies: No / yellow

Artist

Spice

Genre GB

Alternative / Modern

Label GB

Dais

Dais Records is an independent American record label founded by Gibby Miller and Ryan Martin in 2007. Based in Los Angeles, California and New York, New York, Dais Records operates as a genre-agnostic label with a focus on experimental and avant-garde music. The label represents both emerging and established active artists while also curating rare and out of print material for reissue projects. Dais Records exclusively distributes its releases through Secretly Distribution.

Vinyl variants, bonus material and signed editions exclusively available from Rough Trade.

An all female pop group formed in 1994 in London, England. The group consisted of Melanie Brown ("Scary Spice"), Melanie Jayne Chisholm ("Sporty Spice"), Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"), Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"), and Victoria Beckham, née Adams ("Posh Spice").
Spice was a highly successful British girl group that dominated the music scene in the late 90s. Known for their catchy pop tunes and energetic performances, they quickly became global icons.
Their unique personas and individual styles made them relatable to fans worldwide. From Scary's boldness to Sporty's athleticism, Baby's innocence to Ginger's fiery personality, and Posh's elegance - each member brought something special to the group.

The second LP by California rock n roll unit Spice expands their palette of damaged anthems and addiction poetics with a more bristling, visceral sound, distilled from years in the trenches of bands, break-ups, and breakdowns. Singer Ross Farrar explains their chemistry succinctly: “We all got in a room and this is what came out.” Viv is named for a precursor project of bassist Cody Sullivan and violinist Victoria Skudlarek, but also alludes to broader notions of vividness, sonic, visual, and otherwise. Engineered by Jack Shirley and mixed / mastered by Sam Pura in Oakland, the mix achieves that rare balance of every element being elevated but distinct, with voices, strings, and drums each given space to blaze parallel paths. 

Opener “Recovery” captures Spice at their stormy, weathered best, booming drums and East Bay riffs skidding out in a rockslide of rapture, regret, and bruised melody (“You sacrifice perfect days to laugh through the night / you have to get out of bed / and it’s hard / and it’s hard / it’s so hard to admit”), peaking in Ian Simpson’s poignant single-note vibrato guitar solo; Farrar agrees: “The guitar says what we cannot.” Other tracks embrace the group’s shredded pop potential (“Any Day Now,” “Dining Out,” “Live Scene”) and their speedway ripper mode (“Threnody”), with detours into oblique instrumentals (“Melody Drive”) and orchestral balladeering (“Ashes In The Birdbath”). 

But what unites and ignites these songs across different energies and arrangements is their specific sense of emotion. Rawness refined into reckonings, approaching truth, born of cold mornings, bad luck, and too many wrong turns. Waking up where you’re not supposed to be, living a life you don’t recognize. The album ends with no end to its narrative, still fighting, still slipping. Farrar calls “Climbing Down The Ladder” a “relapse song – telling people you’re okay but you’re still fucking up.” Heartbeat drums march under heartbroken guitars in an elegant downward spiral of defeat, delusion, and desperate hope, dreamed more than believed: “I said it was the last time / but I was up so high / 100 miles / 1000 miles / no me in sight / I saw into the next life / I wasn’t dead / I felt so vivid in the next life.”

Music GB

Buy SPICE - Viv (Vinyl, CD) now from Rough Trade - independent purveyors of great music, since 1976.