Denmark’s Baby in Vain are giving guitar music a snarling shot of adrenaline. The Copenhagen trio, whose debut ‘More Nothing’ full-length comes out next month (August 25), steep their songs in ghoulish chants and wave after wave of fuzz.
Latest track ‘To Heaven and Back’ flicks between two different worlds. One sees guitarist / vocalist Lola Hammerich delivering slurred, in-your-face verses like she’s just emerged from Denmark’s gloomiest corners. The other finds the trio linking arms for a direct, straight-for-the-jugular chorus. They pendulum swing between light and dark.
The song is combined with a brilliantly showy, ultra-rock ’n roll video. Hammerich and guitarist Andrew Thuesen Johansen, both on skateboards, hitch a ride on the back of drummer Benedicte Pierleoni’s moped. They’re dragged along a bike track, giving evil eyes to any stranger that passes by. Eventually, Pierleoni arrives at an industrial yard, wherein lies a drumkit, two guitars and a pair of amps. They promptly play for two seconds, before throwing their instruments onto the dead-end concrete. It’s the kind of thing Motley Crue might try, back in the day. But the magic of Baby in Vain is how they spinning old rock tropes on a sixpence.
About the video, Baby in Vain said: “The two coolest things to do in the world are skateboarding and driving a motorcycle. What do you do when you don’t have a motorcycle? You steal a moped.”
Catch Baby in Vain live this summer:
London Fluffer Pit Party (August 23)
Nottingham Rough Trade (24)
Leeds Festival (25)
London Rough Trade (26)
Reading Festival (27)