Alice Offley puts a fresh spin on Valentine a track previously released by her group Alice & The Lovers.
Alice Offley – Valentine
A year ago, Alice Offley released her first solo Valentine’s Day track, ‘Favourite’ which was all romantic gooey funk goodness, declaring her penchant for fondants. This year’s offering ‘Valentine’ is a much darker affair, its noir sophistication paying homage to the 60’s sound of The Shangri-Las, The Ronettes and on a more familial note her cousin Dusty Springfield.
“The disco kitten and funk mistress has taken off her party boots and dipped her toe in darker waters, resulting in her most accomplished song yet.”
Offley’s signature sound – combining disco and funk in an easy catch-all style – has seen an evolution of late with previous empowering synth-pop track “Do It My Way” opening the door to more styles. ‘Valentine’ with its slow, languid drumbeat, confessional lyrics and backing vocals combine to emulate that sense of yearning and regret that those 60’s US girl groups captured so well. It explores the effect of lost love and its potency as it infiltrates the psyche: ‘You brought me roses Valentine, my eyes were closed. Now I can’t find a way out. You’re the only one that I loved. You’re the only one I let in. And I won’t let anyone else, I’ll just lay here by myself.’
This is love that brings loss and pain. This is love that paralyses, that forever anchors you in a moment of bliss and total fulfilment. This is love as neurosis and not freedom. Up until now, Offley’s music has been all about the upbeat, the major, the carefree, knowing exactly where she is, where she thrives, where she can harness the greatest attraction and where she can take you (straight to the dancefloor!) But slow the tempo and drop down into the minor realm and you have the excitement of feeling just that little bit giddy, that little bit unsure of things and that unveils another type of allure. An allure that leads to introspection and renewal, an awakening of those primal drives that make us human: pain and suffering, love and desire. And in ‘Valentine’ this manifests itself as forever striving to be complete again.
“It tells the story of long-lost love. And how it doesn’t always die. After all, love transcends space and time.. and is often blind!”
Discover more from Alice Offley
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- First Signs of Love No. 190. Alice & The Lovers
Words Andrew Gutteridge
