London’s electropop goth? We’re all ears
Who?
Dreamy, brooding and mysterious, Viscount truly exists in a dimension all of her own. On ‘10 Past 10’, her most recent cassette album, listeners are invited inside the walls of an imagined gothic castle to hear an otherworldly story of its occupants. Back in this dimension, we know Viscount as London multi-disciplinary artist Lucy Anstey, who conjures up her own dark mixture of moody electropop.
Why Viscount?
According to Anstey, ‘10 Past 10’ is “a soundtrack to broken nightmares and cursed sweet dreams”. Across its eight tracks, she tells tales of her fictional world with haunting clicks and eerie whistle tones littering ‘Dungeon’, while ‘Ipso Facto’ brings 1980s strings and pop sensibilities to the fore. And how about that growling guitar on ‘DFC (Dance Floor Code)’, backed by the thump-thump of a drum machine? It’s a contrast to the experimental soundscape that is ‘Third Floor Corridor’, with its discordant trills and bleeps going hand-in-hand with psychedelic electronics. A real feast for the ears, this.
Tell Us More…
Inspired by the likes of Laurie Anderson, Sparks, Jim Henson, ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’, and even 90s game show ‘The Crystal Maze’, Anstey explains how these days she’s guided most by narratives and characters. “Musically, I am trying to respond to a mood or story in whatever way I can,” she says. “I record sounds on my phone if I hear something strange, and then try to replicate the mood using different instruments.” But it’s not just music-making that Anstey has an appetite for. By day, she’s a prop maker and has recently been working on a new ride for Disneyland Paris, of all places. “This sounds fake, but for the last few months I’ve been making a castle!” she laughs. Better yet, Anstey is also writing and collecting material for a second Viscount record. If it’s as good as ‘10 Past 10’, then we’re in for a treat.
‘10 Past 10’ is out via Bandcamp
