Geoffrey O'Connor
Vanity Is Forever
Release Date: Sep 27, 2011
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Indie Pop, New Wave/Post-Punk Revival
Record label: Chapter Music
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Album Review: Vanity Is Forever by Geoffrey O'Connor
Fairly Good, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 7/10
The continuing 21st century indie rock fascination with the slick, studio rock of the 1980s is more than evident at the start of Crayon Fields' bandleader Geoffrey O'Connor's Vanity Is Forever, and had the title referred to Prince's one-time paramour, that would seem even more appropriate. However, as the album's cover art more than clearly indicates, the smooth synth flow and light funk evident on the softly sung "So Sorry" is more Bryan Ferry-goes-yacht rock-plus-beardo-disco. It's music to feel elegantly melancholy and groovy to, and it's brilliant, a kind of a full plunge where other artists appear to be all too apologetic for the approach.
Based on rating 5.0/10
On Vanity Is Forever, Geoffrey O'Connor, the former frontman for Melbourne's Crayon Fields, has ditched his previous band's lithesome and coaxing sound for a rigid world of synths and stark self-reflection. It's hard to talk about the album without mentioning the 1980s coming-of-age film soundtracks that it seems largely indebted to. Vanity Is Forever is populated with exes, spurned advances, and lovers waiting, and waiting, and waiting.