Vamp is the debut album from Lux Lyall. A string of great singles and music videos gave us a sense of the musical noir that awaits from the this up and coming pop poet provocateur.

Released: April 24th 2020

Label: Gamblers All

Format: CD / LP / USB / Digital

With a string of singles giving us a sense of what was to come with Lux Lyall, Vamp really delivers in every aspect. Mad With The Moon, Switchblade Baby and Gun Metal Horses all whetted the appetite for some of the flavours that Lux had ready to serve up.

Throughout the album, the music is lush; especially the strings. They sumptuously drive many of the tracks. Whether being the main aspect of a song or just adding that extra dash of flavour, they really are enchanting.

Baby Is A Vamp and Switchblade Baby both use strings well but it’s the heaviness of the beat on the former and the snaking guitar on the latter that really set these songs off. Baby Is A Vamp is a realisation that the character in the song has been ‘done’ by a vamp. Switchblade Baby sounds like something straight out of the Tarantino canon on the cinematic scale. In terms of the music, it has an early 90’s Bad Seeds vibe.

Cinematic is a key phrase in thinking about this album. Teeth has more dense guitars that evoke a feeling of the Wild West with some delightful synth flickers that really bring the song to life. It’s one of many highlights on an album choc full of them.

Here’s To You provides a poetic interlude in the centre of the album; an intermission, if you will. The CD format of the album comes with a bonus disc of poems by Lux.

Kitty Collins is a swing/lounge type track. Lyall delivers the lyric in a seductively menacing way that just adds to the aura of the fantastic storytelling throughout this album.

Again, the heavier guitars on Ritual give the song a Wild West feel as the strings penetrate the song delectably. The pulse of the drum and all the ingredients pulled together make Ritual one of many highlights here.

Hotel Bar and Waiting Room round off the album with the latter throwing in some emphatically open guitar in its closing strains. It has a sense of PJ Harvey about it. Almost Brit-pop in some ways. You could imagine it sound tracking Buffy The Vampire Slayer or something akin to it.

Whilst the music is delightful here, the world that Lux Lyall has created in her words and her singing style is magnificent. The song titles speak for themselves in many ways but you will be drawn in as each layer of the story is revealed. Whether you’re a lyrics person or go more for the music in a song, Vamp is an album that will get the juices flowing either way.

Lux Lyall clearly loves the art that she is producing. The image, the sound, the aesthetic; they all run seamlessly together. Vamp is unique and a real success of a debut. It’s masterful storytelling of a darker world that is seductive, fascinating and glamorous that can certainly give an element of escapism. Submit yourself to Vamp, and you won’t be disappointed.

Watch the video for Teeth below. Also, be sure to check out Lux’s feature that she wrote for us on the splendid Lana Del Rey here.

Lux Lyall: Official Website / Bandcamp / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram