Vanity Fairy - 'Loverman'

Vanity Fairy avoids Second Single Syndrome by exploring her darker side on new single, ‘Loverman’.

Daisy Capri exploded into the consciousness of critics and the public alike with the release of her debut single ‘He Can Be Your Lady’ last month under the phenomenally named moniker Vanity Fairy. She successfully re-imagined the holy grail of disco music as something that was completely her own. That song was three and a half minutes of pulsating beats that could only have been released now, classic vocals mined from the 70's and a forward thinking psychedelic edge that mutated into something truly unique. And in 2018, unique isn't something you come across so easily. However, hype is usually a double edged sword. I remember when Catfish and the Bottlemen came around and I was smitten, just because it was new guitar music that I haven't heard before. Obviously I had heard it all before and about a month later I realised my massive mistake. So is ‘Loverman’ Vanity Fairy's second single, worthy of the hype or does it suffer accordingly? The answer is...

Of course it doesn't. Not going to lie, I was expecting an arms aloft, psychedelic dancefloor filler not unlike her debut. But you can have too much of a good thing. If ‘He Can Be Your Lady’ was sexually confused, "Loverman" is direct. Featuring a synth line that could have been lifted from a porno, the desire of this song is all around - Capri's delivery of the melody in the chorus encapsulates the frustration of a love unfulfilled. Her voice in this song really shines, even more than in her previous single- she makes the Bee Gee's sound like puberty really affected them.

The mood is less upbeat, almost sounding stoned in it's blissed out groove (the Ariel Pink influence is especially obvious here), with the synths drifting by- building subtly in each verse. It could have very easily sounded stark considering her effectively being a singer songwriter - but every note in this song is brimming with purpose and intent. The song ends with a squelch of synth effectively leaving you dissatisfied and wanting more. Luckily, debut EP ‘Lust for Dust’ is out next month. Surviving the hype is one thing; on this form Vanity Fairy could ride it like a tsunami. If you know what's good for you, don't stop listening here. We're really onto something special here.

Words of James Kitchen