Lana Del Ray. Captivating.
Performing her single Video Games on Later Live with Jools Holland last Tuesday evening, the “internet sensation” stole the show. Forget Later Live… Five Minutes With Ms Del Rey would have been a more appropriate programme billing. Lana’s ballad leaves me almost as spellbound as Adele’s spine-tingling performance of Someone Like You on the Brits.
Resisting the initial compulsive urge to switch off, the melancholic piano keys lure me in. Something about the young New York girl in the white dress and heels is simply fascinating. Her mysterious voice, cute facial expressions and delicate swaying are transfixing. On a par with Marilyn Monroe? You decide. I confess that I am glued tighter to my sofa than Derren Brown ever promised with his hypnotic methods. My finger hovering over the remote’s off button has gone numb, my mouth agog. I know I just witnessed something special.
“They say that the world was built for two”. How I would love to meet her.
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Ther. Theryy. Thoros… Excuse me, where was I? Oh yes, half-way through a programme review… THE HORRORS. Faris Badwan’s troupe of post-punk revivalists also star tonight with their ghostly, transparent single I Can See Through You. It’s echoing noise and keyboard overtones are thrilling, like listening within the vacuum of a tube or with one’s hands clasped over one’s ears. Ahead of their time, or out of place?
Badwan’s pallid-faced band resemble the Damned in their later gothic years, now more than ever. Faris’ image carbon-copies Joey Ramone’s with his lanky figure, skinny jeans, crooked nose and scruffy barnet trim. Debut single Sheena Is A Parasite also flashed back to The Ramones’ Sheena Is A Punk Rocker, if only in name.
Jools also welcomes Noah & The Whale; Peter Gabriel too (reference for Vampire Weekend fans, think Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa).
Riot on the Radio 
Lana is charming! Her voice is really beautiful, and so is she 🙂
The Horrors are among my most favourite bands. This performance is really captivating and mysterious. Cool one.
I know next to nothing about The Horrors, fill me in! Me and friends have an addiction for Death At The Chapel off the first album – what a barnstorming track to headbang to with beer. They seem like a clever band, too clever for today’s chart-loving R&B rubbish fans. Credit to them, third album peaked highest, on the up?
I watched Lana’s performance last night, and I had chills. Something in the way she would glance down and then back up at the camera made it seem like she knows some dark secret that no one else knows. And I can’t get over the way she changes her voice in the chorus when she says, “Is that true?” Entrancing.
Great blog, thanks for the link!
Merci beaucoup Ethan, I will be interested to read more of your Letters From the Wasteland in future. Entrancing, that’s the word for her yes, spot on. I was rooted, starry-eyed, glad I didn’t flick off.
I absolutely love this girl. Something about this song…. so haunting!
I fell in love with her in those five minutes: her fluttering eyes, cute pouting and blanche dress 😛 She looked a bit shy, so intriguing. What a prospect!
I’m gonna have to post something by her, this is insane. It reminds me of Laura Marling a bit.
Internet sensation I’m told – 2.6 million Youtube views speaks for itself. I hadn’t even heard of her before last Tuesday!
Laura Marling impressed me on Jools the week before. I always mix her up with Lene Marlin – remember Sitting Down Here?