Over the past two years, VanIves have made waves on the Scottish music scene. From becoming SAMA award winners to heralding in a new decade at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay. Their first release of the year is ‘Babyshowers’ and it does not disappoint.
VanIves’ sound will appeal to many, with their mix of RnB, shoe-gaze and folk, think of their sound as Frank Ocean meets Belle and Sebastian. It’s sound makes ‘Baybshowers’ the perfect track for our current situation. Partly because it will transform, your government-sanctioned daily walk into a cinematic scene.
The vocal performance is delightful, it feels like a delicate whisper at times. It feels intimate such as real love stories are. The production is also integral to the success of the song with its flourishings of birdsong and reverb adding some additional drama.
The atmospheric instrumentals conceal and it makes you blissfully unaware of its dark themes of death. It is presented in a beautifully poetic fashion, it is also refreshingly frank. The lyrics contain another layer of meaning by blending death with weather, pathetic fallacy at its finest. It is additionally about love and the distraction it creates from the bitter end of life. However, it’s a love which is on its deathbed.
The guitar’s beautiful repeated rhythm towards the end of the track creates a lovely rhythm. You get used to until it is suddenly taken from you without any warning. It must be a perfect metaphor.
Listen to ‘Babyshowers’ here.