One of my birthday presents from Ken was VAST’s new album, Nude. VAST, like many of my current music interests, is an artist I discovered through Buffy, or more precisely in this case, Angel. The song ”Touched” from his first album plays over a montage in the episode “Lonely Hearts”. Jon Crosby, the artist behind VAST, has come to be my favorite musical artist.

VAST is one of those artists whose music you appreciate more and more on subsequent listenings. It’s not nearly so much the lyrics to the songs as the intricacies of the music that draw you in. The lyrics aren’t bad, in fact they’re very self-searching and introspective (“I looked into your eyes, And saw a world that does not exist, I looked into your eyes, And saw a world I wish I was in” or "I'm looking for inspiration, And I think I found it in your heart, It's the kind of thing you find when you're not looking, It's the kind of thing you had from the start"), but they pale in comparison to and are infinitely enhanced by the music. I don’t know enough about music to talk about his use of instruments and such, but I do know that every time I listen to one of his songs, I appreciate something different - whether it be the baseline or an instrument that you just don’t usually hear in mainstream music.

Of all three albums, I believe “VAST” to be the best. It was a perfect album. Crosby’s next offering, “Music for People”, was very good, but while it had some great individual songs (the best of which was the hauntingly beautiful instrumental “Lady of Dreams”), it didn’t have the cohesion as an album that “VAST” had. “Nude” brings some of that cohesion back, along with the daring intricacies that makes VAST my favorite artist. Songs like “Don’t Take Your Love Away”, “Winter in My Heart”, and “Can’t Say No (to You)” all have that haunting quality that makes VAST’s work stick in your mind. However, some songs on this album don’t quite exhibit that VAST trademark, none so much as “Lost”, which could easily be mistaken for a U2 song on first hearing.

I can’t recommend VAST enough. Start out with his self-titled album, or download songs from VAST's website.