Swedish artist Vau recounts a past bully with dreamy, engrossing retrospection on the ravishing “The Meanest Child.” Alongside Malmö-based artist Bac Nini, Vau creates a track with dream-pop and soul inspiration, sounding as if The Style Council embraced a contemporary dream-pop weightlessness.
The track’s protagonist — a “little devil in disguise,” — is elaborated upon, with the haunting chorus — “the sun will shine on evil children too,” — exuding an eerily delectable appeal amidst a jangly, Johnny Marr-esque guitar sound. The second half wonders if the bully, who’s “grown up now and lives in a tiny house,” contemplates on her past bullying and the impact it had — which continues to resonate, just like this dreamy, jangly success of a single, which represents the first single from the Vau alias.
Vau describes the release as “a song about the meanest bully from my childhood, carefully packaged in a dreamy, reverby yet soulful wrapping.”
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This and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Best of April 2023’ Spotify playlist.
