Sounds like…
Vanessa Carlton doing bedroom pop.
The review
Able to create short, sharp albums with alarming regularity of great quality, fuvk has remained largely anonymous until recently. She says her music is a diary of life events and timestamps and I love that idea. No surprise then that ‘twentytwenty’ would get its own album of thoughts and expressions.
The acoustic bedroom pop artist reminds me of a lo-fi version of Vanessa Carlton. Less piano, more acoustic guitar and a clean simplicity to arpeggiated chords. She also shares the same vocal style too. Across the eight tracks, fuvk offers thoughts on the pandemic, getting stuck alone and specific moments in life with others. This includes an English/French duet with Jules Boucher on ‘Katie’ which features found sounds, violins, atmospheric and all kinds of fun. Usually, fvuk is paired down to her acoustic guitar, simple beats and her voice.
There are plenty of highlights. ‘Mango Tree’ is a delightful piece of diary storytelling whilst ‘Delphine’ is a bittersweet acoustic ballad that allows the warmness of the guitar to shine. Light hip-hop chill beats sway to the strums of ‘count of’ that feels very of the desolate YouTube age. ‘Hawthorn’ is possibly the most emotionally impactful piece which features layers of guitar and vocals but here the guitar is finger plucked like a harp.
I find fvuk’s pinpoint diary lyrics fascinating. The way she sings them depressed and deflated over her tight and simple melodies makes for the kind of music that is born for a future Life is Strange game. Nothing feels forced or over the top. It is just one person singing entries of her diary over sad minimal indie-pop tunes. What is not to love?
Recommended track: Mango Tree
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fvuk - twentytwenty