Take The Velvet Pill
From the opening hypnotically pulsing subterranean beats of Unloved’s ‘Guilty of Love’ we are gently, coyly lead by the deeply seductive Siren voice that is Jade Vincent, through the languidly parting velveteen curtains, down a meandering, cascading time tunnel towards an enrapturing cavern of slow grooves.
We’ve been tenderly invited into a dark lush seductive world that oozes of smokey hazy dusks long long gone, yet are utterly timeless in their honesty and coquettish smiles. They may be called Unloved, a wry word play being that the seduction is willingly absolute and the yearning, longing deep Love for them is full, saturated and abundant with a complete acquiescence.
Unloved are the ethereal meeting of the vinyl grooved lay lines of David Holmes (musician/producer/composer), Jade Vincent (vocals) and Keefus Ciancia (programming/keyboards/composer) all sharing a profound love of music, movies and soundscapes that to the greater extent makes the listener experience a psychedelic/pop/lustful waltz of synaesthesia.
Triggered by a deep affection/devotion of production values that could lull Phil Spector back from the other side of mortality and soaked in L.A. sunsets and late bar slow drinks, the heat of the day radiates out in a stream of musical consciousness that is not just an homage to the likes of Spector, The Beach Boys, Gainsberg, The BBC Radiophonic Workshop or The Shangri-Las but actually walks the same music staff and paths as all those artists and many more. It is not a pastiche by any means, they might as well have been highly attentive apprentices sitting in the studio with the aforementioned creators.
Nor is it a paint by numbers, just picking a historical palette and staying within the lines, it holds its head high amongst it’s peers of any time and age and fully enhales life.
Jade’s flirtatious, provocative and captivating voice absolutely equals the levels the depth, warmth and artistry the others are bringing to the production, I would gladly hand over my soul to her if (when) I hear her sing ‘Cry Baby Cry’ live, which for me is the pinnacle of so many beautiful, haunting, playful and soul laden songs on a fantastically saturated album of tracks that are instantly enthralling, familiar and new.
She has a voice that tenderly caresses the likes of Nico, Jane Birkin, Nancy Sinatra via Chrissie Hynde and Charlotte Gainsbourg but all the while is uniquely hers.
The album isn’t cool for the sake of being cool. Integrity in ingrained in every single note, it is the genuine cool of dancing as if no one is watching, the complete and inherent freedom of being true to oneself, and sharing that love, it is the road movie soundtrack to your heart.
9/10
Unloved “Guilty Of Love’ is out now. Check out Facebook.com/WeAreUnlovedfor more info.