Lightspeed Champion : 'Madame Van Damme'
Released: Out Now
label: Domino
Reinvention, it’s not always a good thing. Opal Fruits should never have become Starburst. David Tennant’s Doctor Who has regenerated into Rocky Dennis out of Mask. Music-wise we have had Prince become The Artist Formerly Known As Prince then a Jehovah’s Witness. Madonna has reinvented herself so much that now she just picks things out of a skip, sticks them to her forehead and calls herself Lady Gaga. Lightspeed Champion, aka Blood Orange aka Devonté Hynes formerly of Test Icicles deftly bucks this trend with 'Madame Van Damme', the latest single from his album Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You.
As well as having one of the best song titles known to man 'Madame Van Damme' brings together some unlikely bedfellows to bump uglies and create this unique and brilliant bastard spawn. Starting with the base of a 1950s rock and roll ballad Lightspeed Champion adds a Libertine lad’s band sound, resulting in a bouncy and sprightly head-bopper. The lyrics, however, take a completely different direction. With lines like “If my mother knew I’d sinned/ she would pray I’d be abandoned/ Not even church can save me now/ Hopefully if I keep singing maybe this will all just go away” and the simple, gig-finale of a chorus “Kill me, baby won’t you kill me” the lyrics seem as if they might have come from Morrissey’s very own quill. The end product is a brilliant tongue-in-cheek study of hipster malaise, otherwise known as wanker’s moan, and the best way to bring you out of a paranoid, “what the fuck was I saying/doing” hangover. Cracking stuff.
Words: Harvey Ovenden
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