As you regular readers of my blog will know, I am a fan of a lot of darker material - and Livia Drew has grabbed my ear with her latest release. “Vampyre” has the eerie charm of a disturbing nursery-room nightmare, only here the shadows conceal something considerably more adult.
A hypnotic toy-piano motif, delicate strings and evocative vocals create a gothic music-box atmosphere, with Livia Drew delivering the lyrics theatrically but wisely resisting any temptation to go over the top. That helps this piece to be a sort of restrained horror with an almost sensual allure; it is also cool to hear a waltz turned into something a little creepy.
There’s an elegant simplicity to the arrangement - no guitars, no sonic bludgeoning - yet it proves remarkably effective. As the refrain promises, “A promise as dark as night, we’ll never die”: this is romance with its teeth showing, seductive, spooky and just dangerous enough to leave a mark.
LINK: Livia Drew