HeyBobby! – The Unclouding of Otilla Vanilla
Not every debut deserves the word ‘ambitious’. It gets used too often for records that simply have a few more tracks than average, or a guest musician who barely makes a difference. With “The Unclouding of Otilla Vanilla” by the duo HeyBobby!, however, the term is entirely justified. Gina Del Vecchio and Bobby Peek have not made an album. They have built a world.
The starting point is a rock opera in twelve parts, following the story of Otilla Vanilla, a young singer searching for herself who falls under the spell of Vivienne St. Clair, a magnetic but dangerous music promoter known as ‘Big Shooter’. What follows is best described as a fall in slow motion, beautiful to watch and painful to feel. The duo’s inspirations are clearly audible: the theatrical bravado of David Bowie in Del Vecchio, the melodic instincts of The Beatles in Bobby Peek. But it never sounds like imitation.
The production carries the story in a way that is immediately striking. Everything is tight, layered and considered, without smothering the organic energy of the music. Because that is what is remarkable about this album: it is simultaneously careful and raw. At one moment, it pulls decisively towards symphonic rock with full, cinematic arrangements, at the next, it plunges into grunge with abrasive guitars and a production that knows when to step back. That variability is considerable, but never disorienting. It feels considered.
At the centre of it all stands the voice of Gina Del Vecchio, and that deserves separate attention. She is clear and powerful when required, gentle and restrained when she can be, and she knows precisely where that boundary lies. In “Function of Friction”, where a carefully slapped bass captures the simmering tension between Otilla and her mentor, her voice cuts through the arrangement like something that should have been said long ago. In “Melt My Chains”, she does the opposite: she lets go, pulls back, and in doing so draws the listener closer.
“Soft Time of Night” is the moment where the album surprises most. The rock disappears entirely, the instrumentation shrinks, and what remains is reminiscent of a late evening in a small jazz café, table lamps on, nobody else around. The contrast with the rest of the record is considerable, but the placement feels entirely logical within the story. This kind of dramaturgical instinct, knowing when to be quiet, sets HeyBobby! apart from many contemporaries.
After the emotional climax of “Broken” and the raw energy of “So In Your Corner”, the album deliberately chooses not to close with a bang. “Ya Leave Me New” and “Everything” descend gradually, like two tracks that gently lay Otilla’s story to rest rather than cutting it off. It is a shrewd choice that has more in common with theatre than with the average rock record.
There are reservations. The stylistic leaps are wide enough that a listener unwilling to fully commit to the narrative framework may occasionally feel they are hearing two different bands. And the multimedia project surrounding it, with video episodes and an elaborate visual world, is so all-encompassing that the music sometimes risks being swallowed by the larger whole. That would be a shame, because the record stands on its own.
“The Unclouding of Otilla Vanilla” is the kind of debut you do not forget quickly. Not because it is perfect, but because it cares about something. And that exclamation mark after the name HeyBobby!, after listening to this album, you understand it completely. (8/10) (HB! Records)
