'The Independent Music Show Magazine' November 2022 | Page 3

Van Vogt aka Rio Glacier is an

Swiss Songwriter and Peformance Artist.

He lives in St. Gallen, Switzerland.Starting in

winter 2018, Van Vogt alias Rio Glacier initiated

his own project. Text and music are written by Van

himself, as well as most of the instruments programmed

and produced. Luc Stalder takes the lead guitar. In live

performances, Stalder is playing alongside Van, accompanied

by other musicians like Heinz Morf on the bass.

Instrumentally, Rio Glacier shows us once again more than one facet.

Powerful guitar solos and riffs underline their songs and harmonise with

verses and refrains without outshining them. The drum cadenzas

take the audience on a journey, riding on the back of rhythmical

currents. You will not be able to repress an occasional tapping with

your foot when sitting in a tram or a train. What is more, RG goes

beyond simply using the classical band instruments like guitar, bass,

piano and drums. Thus, in Think and do what you want a group of brass

instruments gets its turn, almost blowing you away.

Nor are the strings missing. In She, violins and cellos paint with tender

tones an image of love, trust and devotion and let you think in their transporting

power of those in your life that touch you as deeply as does RG’s ‘she’. Nonetheless,

Rio do not seem to glorify reality, nor do they outdistance the truth. They simply tend

to find the right words, or more importantly, the right tones that express what life is all about.

Ultimately, Rio Glacier convince us to once more focus solely on the music, listen closely and at the same time they play us the soundtracks to our own multifaceted lives.