Vamberator has today premiered their new video for the track titled ‘Imps’, from their debut album ‘Age of Loneliness’, via Unifaun Productions / Maracash.
Vamberator is made up of Jem Tayle (Shelleyan Orphan) and Boris Williams (The Cure), ‘Imps’, and certainly ‘Age of Loneliness’ carries the weight and history culminated by and from both artists while lending a bit of their individual influences and talents to each track. But, there is something more at the core here. This is a fun track and video. This is a band having fun showing off their new song and showing how original it actually is. Radio friendly yet heavy on the ears, the hook is a monster and that monster loves to give hugs. Full on snark in the lyrics amid memorable melody, ‘Imps’ feels like a lifetime in the span of a few minutes, and that lifetime was well lived.
Check out our other features with Vamberator HERE.
About ‘Imps’
An ebullient, soulful indie pop / rock anthem, laden with riffs and hooks, ‘Imps’ is the glorious new single from Vamberator, taken from their brand-new debut album, Age of Loneliness (Unifaun Productions / Maracash, January 2025). Vamberator, described as a “magical funky hybrid”, is the latest collaboration between surviving Shelleyan Orphan members, Jemaur Tayle and Boris Williams (also of The Cure), following the untimely passing of their longtime bandmate, Caroline Crawley, in 2016. The new Vamberator album, Age of Loneliness, is Jem and Boris’s first new record together since Shelleyan Orphan’s swansong, We Have Everything We Need (One Little Independent, 2008).
Speaking about the new Vamberator single, ‘Imps’, lead songwriter Jem Tayle says:
“…’Imps’ couldn’t make up its mind where it wanted to be: part pop, part choral, no conventional structure, but full of riffs and unrestrained joy. I kept thinking it needs to be edited to make sense but the more I listened, the more I stopped tweaking and allowed it to run its course… Split off, come with me, choose a place to go. Maybe the wilderness where a beast is free to roam. Leave your monster at home it’ll be ok, surrender and get distracted by the wild things!”
Premiering exclusively today with Jammerzine, the video for ‘Imps’ comprises DIY homespun footage of Jem and Boris playing in their respective homes, based between Bath, England and the south of France. ‘Imps’ is the fourth promo single lifted from the Age of Loneliness album, following the widely acclaimed debut single, ‘Sleep the Giant of Sleeps’; the 1970s New York soul and R&B-inspired ‘I Used to Be Lou Reed’; and the kooky-meets-spooky Halloween glam stomp of ‘Creature in My House’.
Across the Age of Loneliness album, Vamberator’s influences range from the smooth funk, soul, and R&B of Barry White or Marvin Gaye; to the art pop and glam rock of Lou Reed, Marc Bolan, David Bowie, or Roxy Music; to perhaps more expected points of reference for older Shelleyan Orphan fans, like Nick Drake or Tim Buckley. Elsewhere, threads are pulled from psychedelia, surrealism, pantomime, disco, hip-hop, indie pop, alternative rock, electronic dance and Britpop… all rewoven into Vamberator’s own uniquely magical flying carpet.
In his latest interview with Record Collector Magazine, Jem said of Vamberator’s future:
“I’ve still got a lot of musical stuff left inside of me… It doesn’t have to be an old bloke of 63. I don’t feel that age, but I know that I am that age. There’s plenty of juice running through me so I want to use it.”
Age of Loneliness, the debut album from Vamberator, is available now on Vinyl LP, Compact Disc, or LP / CD bundle from Maracash; as a digital download from Bandcamp; and streaming from Spotify and all major digital music platforms.
Featured image by Themis Mikellides.
LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/Vamberator/
https://www.instagram.com/vamberator/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1yyLLT3dhimOujzhRKxTPn
https://vamberator.bandcamp.com/