Vampire in love with Tash

 

Look, you know how this will go. I write about things that I like at the moment. There is no time for cruelty or punishing those who write shit music because there are so many of them that the poison from my pen will not even slow them down.

So you know how this will go. It's a formula. I will say negative things and then I will pivot and say I love the song anyway.

I learned that in a journalism course in a town that was then called Karl Marx Stadt, and then became Chemnitz. Then I lived and loved in Prague the city that set me free. Then by accident of circumstance I adopted Leicester, or Leicester adopted me. But in all those places, it is one of the standard review arcs. Knock it down and twist with the big reveal at the end.

So. Tash. The band. They look good. They must be popular. Well-styled. Knowing. Just so. So unlike most of the lumpen fools I see in bands, but that does not mean they cannot have talent.

This song. Well it draws from a well that I thought was drained in the 1980s and 1990s. We all remember Spaceman? An advert made indie-pop flesh. There is a nod there. The sonics are route 1. Obvious, contrived and relentless. That could be a criticism, but as we've already established I will tell you at the end I like this song. Sometimes doing the obvious takes a higher level of talent and bravery than being clever. Turning it up to 11 and striking the chord. It worked for the Gaye Bakers, and it can work for these people too.

The lyrics are affected. Sexual arousal and undead creatures and a little mild swearing, but only words that won't get you banned. Real punks swear to destruct, not to embellish. But you don't need to be real to be good.

But. But. The song is memorable. I played it twice. I played it three times. I will not lie, I felt a little debased after. My body is incapable of arousal but my mind still plays tricks.

Yes. I like this song. Listen to it.