Not even a second into “Amour Fou” by Beverly Kills, I knew that I was about to get into something really good.
You know how sometimes you immediately hear the first few moments of a song, and your head and ears perk up in excitement and anticipation? For me, that happens for really danceable and fast-paced jams, like this one. You know that you’re going to want to just smile and jump around (or simply do a cool, mysterious head nod when you’re in a quiet place, like I do).
“Amour Fou” checks off just about all of the boxes for an amazing indie-pop song. It’s upbeat and lighthearted. Reminds me of a sunny day, I think. It takes the best elements of the indie sleaze music era from a decade ago and the surfy, beachy, wind-in-your-hair stuff that’s taking young people like myself by storm. I feel like the timing of this review is particularly appropriate given the changing of the seasons; I know it’s not technically summer yet, but it’s close enough in my opinion.
Since the day that I met you // My mind’s been in constant motion
It never stops, never hesitates and here we are // Body and body and back to back
There’s a really nice flow to this song, which tells a story of a person who knows that their emotions are being toyed with by another. Despite this, they can’t seem to stop feeling the way they do about the other person, and they relive the happy moments in their head.
I can think of countless indie-pop songs that are kind of a bummer when you listen to the words, but that’s immediately overpowered by the happy and triumphant nature of its sound. That’s what this sort of stuff is known for, I guess. Just making people happy. Words are exhausting to figure out. I think that’s kind of what Beverly Kills is going for; they don’t want you to think and ponder over dark complexity or sadness in their lyricism. They just want you to vibe. And that’s okay.
But it isn’t fun at all // Baby, what you do with me, yeah // No fun at all
Plain and simple. A catchy hook for a catchy tune. Once again, it’s all about the vibe.
I can say this for sure: Beverly Kills has a lot of potential to make it big in the indie scene, in my opinion. They define themselves as post-punk (and their name sounds punkish enough), but recently, they’ve been much more light and happy than their genre sounds in context. We don’t need the angry stuff right now; we can save that for the winter.
