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Review and Premiere! – “Cut Off at 20000 Hurts” – boyBITCH
Posted on March 12, 2013 by elenagritzan
That’s right, there’s more to this than just an album review. Introducing our very first album premiere! Read about the album and then see the instructions at the bottom to find out how to get your hands on it.
by Elena Gritzan
The chorus of the opening song of boyBITCH’s debut album proclaims: “I’m going downtown to tell them what I think.” As a relative newcomer to Toronto, vocalist David Vanden Enden has arrived and tells us a whole lot about what he thinks about life, love, and getting through on this ten-song project.
In an interview with the blog last month, Vanden Enden explained that he started writing about sex as a way to express feelings he couldn’t in his everyday life. Well, the album starts off with a bang, from pounding bass and rounded synth on “Popsicle” through to the improvised verses and slinky groove of “Gonna Do Now.” Close your eyes and you can almost see Vanden Enden surrounded by legions of back-up dancers, maximum spectacle.
The further you get into the album, though, the more ethereal and emotional it gets. “You and I” comes with sustained “ahh”s and a downturned pace that sets the contemplative and mournful mood that continues into “Stars Corrupt”. The one song on the album that stands out sonically – more rock balladry than dancefloor anthem – is also the song that most directly addresses some of the pain that was fed into the creation of boyBITCH in the first place, full of references to Vanden Enden’s previous marriage.
Placing “Electronic Inspiration”, a fun song that seems to be a love letter to the electronic genre of music that boyBITCH embraces, is quite a foil. The genre/style/mood jumping makes the album at times incohesive, but reverting back to dance-floor positivity also shows range. We’re here to have fun too, after all.
Vanden Enden gets more hopeful as the album nears completion, from falling so in love you’ll follow someone anywhere (“Where Ever”) to the final song, “Wonder”. I talked about the inspiration behind this song back in the interview, but it bears repeating:
“I joked with people early on during my gigs before the song,” Vanden Enden confesses. ‘Oh, I wrote this when I was suicidal. I didn’t want to live.’ But the fact of the matter was, I was probably at the lowest I’d ever been in my life … I think what it was, is I was calling on a voice from outside of me … For a while after I wrote that, I would actually listen to it and it would make me cry. It was brutal! Cause I’d just be like, ‘I know! Things are going to get better!’ But it was my own voice telling me that. And as things got better, I started to believe it.”
The shiny synth melody, the outwardly positive message, and the sing-along chorus lends itself well to happy-dancing in your kitchen, smiling as you look up at the beautiful sky, and putting it on in your darkest moments to remind yourself that, really, things will get better. At the very least you’ll have a great new album to dance along to.
Rating: Proud Hoot (Really Good)
Top Tracks: “Popsicle”, “Where Ever”, “Wonder”. - Grayowl Point
Review and Premiere! – “Cut Off at 20000 Hurts” – boyBITCH
Posted on March 12, 2013 by elenagritzan
That’s right, there’s more to this than just an album review. Introducing our very first album premiere! Read about the album and then see the instructions at the bottom to find out how to get your hands on it.
by Elena Gritzan
The chorus of the opening song of boyBITCH’s debut album proclaims: “I’m going downtown to tell them what I think.” As a relative newcomer to Toronto, vocalist David Vanden Enden has arrived and tells us a whole lot about what he thinks about life, love, and getting through on this ten-song project.
In an interview with the blog last month, Vanden Enden explained that he started writing about sex as a way to express feelings he couldn’t in his everyday life. Well, the album starts off with a bang, from pounding bass and rounded synth on “Popsicle” through to the improvised verses and slinky groove of “Gonna Do Now.” Close your eyes and you can almost see Vanden Enden surrounded by legions of back-up dancers, maximum spectacle.
The further you get into the album, though, the more ethereal and emotional it gets. “You and I” comes with sustained “ahh”s and a downturned pace that sets the contemplative and mournful mood that continues into “Stars Corrupt”. The one song on the album that stands out sonically – more rock balladry than dancefloor anthem – is also the song that most directly addresses some of the pain that was fed into the creation of boyBITCH in the first place, full of references to Vanden Enden’s previous marriage.
Placing “Electronic Inspiration”, a fun song that seems to be a love letter to the electronic genre of music that boyBITCH embraces, is quite a foil. The genre/style/mood jumping makes the album at times incohesive, but reverting back to dance-floor positivity also shows range. We’re here to have fun too, after all.
Vanden Enden gets more hopeful as the album nears completion, from falling so in love you’ll follow someone anywhere (“Where Ever”) to the final song, “Wonder”. I talked about the inspiration behind this song back in the interview, but it bears repeating:
“I joked with people early on during my gigs before the song,” Vanden Enden confesses. ‘Oh, I wrote this when I was suicidal. I didn’t want to live.’ But the fact of the matter was, I was probably at the lowest I’d ever been in my life … I think what it was, is I was calling on a voice from outside of me … For a while after I wrote that, I would actually listen to it and it would make me cry. It was brutal! Cause I’d just be like, ‘I know! Things are going to get better!’ But it was my own voice telling me that. And as things got better, I started to believe it.”
The shiny synth melody, the outwardly positive message, and the sing-along chorus lends itself well to happy-dancing in your kitchen, smiling as you look up at the beautiful sky, and putting it on in your darkest moments to remind yourself that, really, things will get better. At the very least you’ll have a great new album to dance along to.
Rating: Proud Hoot (Really Good)
Top Tracks: “Popsicle”, “Where Ever”, “Wonder”. - Grayowl Point
The showy, sexy music of David Vanden Enden’s boyBITCH project was perfect for the setting. With two sequins and black lipstick-clad back-up dancers in tow, he delivered a set of infectious beats overlaid with over-the-top lyrics. Visual spectacle was at an all-time high. Vanden Enden stood at the head of the catwalk, delivering distorted vocals, while his two accomplices moved and grooved in unison. Glow sticks were thrown, leashes were pulled, and dance-times were had.
Last month I included “Downtown” on my list of favourite songs for the year, spurred on by a dramatic performance at Holy Oak. Last night’s show confirmed it for me: watch out, folks, boyBITCH is going to seduce you and it’s going to be beautiful. Vanden Enden is genuinely excited to be playing shows in the city; he exclaimed to me pre-show that people who show up early for his set are his favourite. Some notes: Toronto, please show up early for this show. Concert promoters, please book them. I want to witness that again. - Grayowl Point
Discography
Debut album release March 1, 2013
Photos
Bio
Born and raised in Ontario Canada, David Vanden Enden, aka boyBITCH was born out of a desperate need to be awake and electrify his reality. With lyrics that at a first glance seem ridiculous and arbitrary, a deeper look reveal an alien being trapped in human form. His electronic heart, it beats for pleasure.
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