Lovehead - Vanity Project
It’s difficult to pigeon hole a band who describe themselves as ‘a hard-edged, attitude fuelled, guitar based Rock n Roll band that can’t help occasionally getting all Star Trek and going nuts on a synth’. Formed by two childhood friends from Scotland, the now four-piece band Lovehead are based in London and have recently released their debut album ‘Vanity Project’.
The album opens with the late 70’s light punk-sounding ‘Want It Got It’, sounding more like The New York Dolls than The New York Dolls with a hint of early Bowie. Not very inventive and a trait that will become more apparent, the longer the album is playing. ‘Sellout’ follows uneventfully before ‘Moan And Whine’ which ups the tempo to a more Dr Feelgood feel. The reare so many pub bands around doing this type of stuff well and any more just takes the market beyond saturation point.
‘Sometimes’ is a diversion as it starts with some soft synth sounds then degrades into some droning vocals before changing through Zappa to indie. It’s all becoming confusing at this point, though I did like the Zappa sound. The track becomes noisy and loses direction totally before the fade out at the end. Next up is the single ‘Sexy Disco’ has had some positive reviews in the press and by various radio pundits. To me it evokes a feeling of a bluesy Scissor Sisters on acid. Again, it is repetitive and it’s not very easy to keep an interest.
We move on to ‘Rock N Roll Star’, which is yet another mood swing, this time into pop-rock. It’s probably the best track on the album; or could that be said of ‘Turtle Heart’ which is a mellow tune where the vocals don’t annoy so much. There are some interesting female vocals here which do make the song interesting throughout. ‘Celebrity’ is a return to the late 70’s RnB sound with some annoying vocals that I just can’t fathom out. I think they are trying too hard hear and it just ends up being another annoyance. ‘Dirty City’ follows in the same vein as the previous track but with a more commercial fee and highlighted by a much richer sound. Eventually it all comes to a conclusion with ‘Fake’, another track ruined by some annoying chanting and snarling.
The album is a slapdash mix of mayhem and noise. Don’t get me wrong, some of the music is good but the vocals continuously let any musicianship down. You can hear influences from the likes of Talking Heads, Dr Feelgood and Supergrass but generally they would be better off transporting back to the late 70’s where I’m sure they would fit in more suitably.
At times I found the album difficult to listen to due to the erratic nature of the mood changes from track to track, the language and the vocals. I can imagine that they might be popular in the pubs in and around London but their point is totally missed on me.