Album Review: Vanity Rose - "Hooligans Shampoo"

 

Hailing from Bedfordshire, Vanity Rose is one of those artists where it's a bit difficult to know where to start in terms of getting a handle on her so to speak. A cursory look at her Soundcloud page sees her covering songs by artists ranging from Mazzy Star through Amy Winehouse to Blondie and Hooligan's Shampoo is an appropriately schizophrenic but engaging beast.

Opener Broken Davtex sees Vanity laying down her manifesto in a suitably menacing Lydon style drawl and the likes of the title track which takes a pot shot at online haters and the anti-nine to five rant Mickey Mouse Bullshit pack in plenty of Transvision Vamp style vitriolic sarcasm (and that's a compliment I promise you). However, Radio 85 takes things off somewhere different with its atmospheric spaciness and Peter Hook style bassline while the gentle woozy Uncontrollable Urges sees her Mazzy Star influence coming to the fore and the electro-pop of Pretty Love could even be Goldfrapp or Lady Gaga in one of her mellower moments if you squint a bit.

Hooligan's Shampoo doesn't quite hit the target every time and the likes of Lost On Your Highway, Prisoner and Field Of Horses are a bit underwhelming if I'm brutally honest. But you could certainly never accuse Vanity Rose of not at least pushing the envelope when it comes to branching her sound out and there's enough variety on this album to make sure that there's never a dull moment here. Certainly the musical world would be a much duller place without people like her around and Hooligan's Shampoo is deserving of at the very least a curiosity listen 

Soundcloud Link

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑🌑 (7/10)

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