Album Premiere: "PUFF" by Vanity Mirror

Vanity Mirror, dreamy retro pop from Los Angeles, have offered up an exclusive first listen of their highly anticipated debut LP PUFF (We Are Busy Bodies) to The Big Takeover. The album’s focus track “Somehow You Know” was written in a church garden on an overcast bank holiday. It is a slacker lullaby for misfits and romantics. The third single from Vanity Mirror’s lo-fi bedroom pop debut PUFF, the simple and understated arrangement of “Somehow You Know” focuses on playful melodies and ghostly keyboard runs. An ode to unspoken feelings between friends or more-than-friends. Reflecting on the track Randall said, “‘Somehow You Know’ is a somewhat of a lullaby. It wasn’t an immediate choice for a single but one of our favorites and a track that a lot of close friends had highlighted as one of their favorites. I think it has an immediacy in its simplicity. I think this video captures that and we’re so excited to share it.” Listeners of Vanity Mirror’s debut album will hear careful nods to The Kinks, Idle Race and The Raspberries delicately weaved into the hook-filled composition.

The duo of Toronto-based Brent Randall (Gentle Brent) and Los Angeles-dwelling Johnny Toomey (The Turns) are known for their previous achievements with Los Angeles based, baroque-pop group, The Electric Looking Glass. Both musicians compliment each other stylistically and add sparks to their newest project, Vanity Mirror. Their debut LP, PUFF was written, recorded, performed, produced and even mixed by Brent Randall. The resulting album starts where their other project Electric Looking Glass leaves off, with hummable, dreamy pop that branches out into more intimate, less genre specific freeform songcraft. It is a nostalgic collection of songs pieced together in makeshift spaces while traveling between LA, Montreal, Detroit and Toronto. Taping old pianos in public libraries and abandoned houses and tracking vocals in vintage shop basements, Randall sent the tracks to Toomey who recorded drums and percussion in his Los Angeles basement using a handheld field recorder. Listeners will call to mind artists like Emitt Rhodes, Olivia Tremor Control, and Belle and Sebastian. Vanity Mirror’s PUFF will see a digital/vinyl release on May 12th, 2023 via We Are Busy Bodies.

Purchase Vanity Mirror’s Album PUFF

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