The term “Vanity Fair” usually refers to an ostentatious or over-the-top celebration, and after years of working on their huge 14- track album and months of teaser signals, it would likely seem it’s worth its namesake and Neonlight are ready for a celebration. Out tomorrow, May 27 on Blackout Music, Vanity Fair is itself a celebration of music, melody and sound design so the name is doubly fitting.
Fans have been excited for the release of Vanity Fair since December when the first teaser track “Hero of My Youth” released. Heavy and strong in its stance as a stand-alone track, “Hero of My Youth” is one of those tracks that’s instantly recognizable by its emotive synths which, with their surging and forceful push or sound at each phrase transition, it’s another apt title for this track, as one can almost feel the chest-beating and pumping up vibes even before the bass drops. An excellent lead-in track that’s already being played everywhere.
Also already out are the delightfully chunky “Kinsky,” the space epic “Triumph,” another heavy charger of a track called “Desire” and featuring Flowanastasia, and the glitchy, epic saga collab “Scarface” with label patrons Black Sun Empire. While these tracks have already covered a good cross section of the there’s still loads to discover in the rest of the album. It’s clear the Neonlight guys created Vanity Fair with a theme and a flow in mind, as there’s an overall spacey Tron vibe there and each track leads in to some other part of the journey.
Said journey starts with the title track, where Neonlight introduce their audience to all the sensory and sensual synthy delights in store for them. Featuring what sound like analog drums, yet another emotive and evocative main synth line and a whole load of sound design before the beat even drops, it’s an intro to the lush world of Vanity Fair and the neuro overload fans can expect from the whole album. Beautiful, bold as brass and a true stomper all at the same time, it’s only fitting that this first track be the last premiere before the album drops, and luckily YEDM snagged it.
NEONLIGHT · Neonlight – Vanity Fair
Neonlight are always able to balance head-splitting neuro aggression with more melodic and emotional musical composition, and Vanity Fair is certainly a prime example of that rare skill. All the tracks on this album will be able to light up the dancefloor but also evoke passionate feelings at the same time. It seems Neonlight were ready to put out something this epic; now the question is are the fans ready for it?
Vanity Fair drops tomorrow, May 27 on Blackout Music. Click here to pre-order or pre-save.