If you have Tiktok or Instagram, I’m sure you’ve heard at least one song by Eyedress, the artist that created “Jealous,” “Romantic Lover,” and “Something About You.” On April 19, he released a new album called “Vampire in Beverly Hills.”
This album- or mixtape as his label calls it- is his latest in two years. It comes out in time for his tour and performance at the Head in the Clouds music festival. It’s also clear that he takes a lot of inspiration from older pop music, which is also clear in a past album, “Mulholland Drive.” This new album reminds me of 80s music with its elements of goth and pop, but I still think it is best described as a collection of different artist collaborations and genres.
I noticed that Eyedress pitches his voice down for a lot of the songs, most likely to go for a gothic, edgier tone kind of like in “Romantic Lover.” Personally, I’m not a huge fan of this, especially because one of the main appeals of his music for me is his soft vocals. I understand though that he’s probably trying to explore a new sound and range of music.
Overall, my top songs of the album are “Okanagan Lake,” “My Time,” “I’m not the Feds,” “OFW,” and “Halloween Beach.” “Okanagan Lake” seems like a song from a John Hughes movie and has a really fun and youthful sound, so it stands out amongst the rest of the songs in this album. “I’m Not the Feds” reminds me of Jack Stauber and “Something About You,” it also feels a little bit like a Sunday cartoon strip as a song. Most of the songs have very fun synth instrumentals and Eyedress’s vocals take on a very foggy, dissipating quality (it feels like his voice is dissolving around you- if that makes sense).
My least favorite song in the album was “Gone in a Heartbeat.” I thought it had too much purposeful autotune and I wasn’t really a fan of the pop-punk sound it was going for.
As a whole, the album didn’t stand out especially to me and I still prefer a lot of his older songs, but I did genuinely like a majority of the songs in it.
