Produced by ex-Pere Ubu bassist extraordinaire Tony Maimone, who also lent his four-string magic on the record, Vis-á-vis reflects singer/songwriter/guitarist Tom Devaney's vision of a lifetime rocked by lunar landings, presidential pardons, OPEC-induced gas lines and a battle between a congenital New England fatalism and an underlying romanticism. Add to that, his own recipe for a stew of all Syd Barrett, Love, late 60s Kinks, Meat Puppets, Erik Satie, John Fahey and Mississippi John Hurt one could shake a stick at.
Maimone opined that Vis-á-vis has a "Syd Barrett thing going on", but the style is all American. The songs on Vis-á-vis vary from the Velvet Underground influenced ’Lost’s Not a Lonely World’, the biting homage to dreary work-a-day life, ’Manager In Here’, Devaney’s paean to his pet turtle, ’Rocket, Tonight’ featuring signature, Ubu-esque, bass work from Maimone, to the stirring epic ’Solid Ground’.
Based out of NYC and originally from Boston where he toiled in the bands Bulkhead (Shimmy Disk) and Betwixt (Archenemy), Devaney sees the release of Vis-á-Vis as the culmination of a year of musical things falling into place. On a whim, he sent a rough demo of songs recorded on a four-track in his Queens apartment to Maimone. Maimone loved the music and set the wheels in motion for the recording sessions that would bear Vis-á-Vis. Amidst the unique mix of acoustic guitars, lap steel, synthesizer, piano, cello and Hammond B3 organ, courtesy of Devaney and his group of cohorts, Maimone’s tasteful production leaves the songs largely unchanged from the original demo ideas
As a long time Pere Ubu fan, working with Tony Maimone has been a somewhat surreal experience for Devaney, but the respect is mutual. "This is one of the best records I?ve ever played on", said Maimone. Somewhere in Devaney?s living room, Pere Ubu's Modern Dance and Dub Housing LPs are smiling.