Do Vuvuvultures represent the future of rock? Tim Hughes finds out more about this quirky four-piece and discovers that they probably do

Dark, sinister and abrasive, Vuvuvultures would never claim to be the cheeriest of bands.

Their videos are grotesque – eyes in mouths, mouths for eyes, lips dribbling black blood – and as for their music, well... the titles speak for themselves. With songs like I’ll Cut You, Death of Us All and Your Thoughts are a Plague, they are certainly not going for cute.

What they do offer, though, is altogether more exciting – twisted and attitude-laden electronic pop with hooks big and gnarly enough to land a shoal of sharks.

And it all originates, says the band’s guitarist and producer Paul Ressel, from “freeform noise sessions”.

“Loops are created from beats and pulses, then we put down a bassline, then vocals and lyrics, then layer up instrumentation,” he explains.

“Taking the songs live is about finding the common denominator melodically, rhythmically and sonically, removing extra ‘candy’ bits and anything we can’t play live on the spot,” adds bass player Nicole Bettencourt Coelho, who with singer Harmony Boucher and drummer Matt Christensen make up the rest of the band.

Harmony, meanwhile, admits to leaving the rest of them to “play with one particular sound for four hours,” while she gets on with the serious business of lyric writing – before that also goes into the mix.

“I’ll write a love song and Nicole will translate it into sci-fi paranoia or a ballad to a gun,” she says.

The songs are crafted, if you can call it that, in a North London studio crammed with largely homemade equipment: a drum machine named ‘Itchy,’ a modified keyboard called ‘The Realistic,’ and a suitcase of devices known only the ‘Appliance of Science’. The result is a symphony of soaring synth and distorted guitar, overlaid with Harmony’s vocals.

“The electronic element is now very organic,” says Paul. “It’s like having another player in the band.”

Emerging from the capital’s underground party scene, the embryonic band, then a three-piece, bonded over long nights in derelict factories and warehouses. Initially playing with a laptop as accompaniment, they completed their line-up with Matt playing good old fashioned drums.

“Once Matt came along we started writing more as a band and really changed the sound,” says Harmony. Although Matt admits it took a while to get used to the band’s methods.

“There was all this electronic stuff going on and I found myself needing to translate it to a real-world setting while also staying true to it at the same time,” he says. “But I really enjoyed having that different approach to start from.”

The past two years have been spent gigging, establishing their reputation for captivating live shows. They ran their own party night, The Island, as an opportunity to collaborate with bands and DJs which took their fancy – as well as a place to enjoy themselves and try out experiments in sound and lighting.

Now, with the release of their debut album, Push / Pull they are hoping to cross over into the mainstream, while still banking on their fans to tell them if the product of those “freeform sessions” translates from the studio to the stage.

“The best test is always an audience,” says Harmony. “They’re not forgiving and will just walk out. Then we’ll realise, ‘ah, this chorus needs a better chord progression,’”

And it works... well, mostly, says Nicole, confessing: “Maybe we should work a little harder!”

Vuvuvultures play the O2 Academy Oxford ECK IT on Wednesday. Tickets are £8 from ticketweb.co.uk