Weekday, noon. The greatest things happen on weekdays at noon. I was walking towards the center to find Nikos, when some girl asked me what I was listening to. Viceroy. I'm listening to Viceroy.A band I met a year ago, in a studio that -fortunately for me- had terrible soundproofing. Since then, I have hardly missed one of their live performances, which I must note here are magical. It feels like you are in a movie, time freezes and only starts when they get off the stage. Their music takes influences from Nick Cave to the Doors, from Sonic Youth to Lana Del Rey. There are no restrictions and the more they write, the more they discover and incorporate new elements into their pieces.
With Nikos, singer, guitarist and lyricist of Viceroy, we talked about their latest single. For me, good music has two aspects: pieces that you can't bear to listen to more than once, and pieces that you can't get enough of listening to. Sun Girlbelieve me, belongs to the second one.
Something that impressed me from our conversation is that in general lyrics on Viceroy are more improvisational.. If you listen to (our producer) Antonis's takes, each one is different. Many songs when we played them live the lyrics were not written and I had in mind what I wanted to describe at that moment. There are standard bodies, I just won't limit myself. There are parts that are a bit wobbly but I think this is beautiful. It makes every performance a little more special.
Each phrase of the track starts with the same word and continues differently, which Nikos was inspired by a Jim Morrison poem. When I first picked up the guitar and started playing, it was already a song in my head. And the voice found its own place. And the first time we played it Alex found his part straight away, Dima knew what he was going to play… that's it… the song wrote itself.
The lyrics are mostly questions, now that I think about it.
Sun girl, where is your mind, what you’re thinking?
Sun girl, why are your eyes so cold?
…I’ m addressing my girlfriend, E. It was a period in which I was lost. In relation to myself mostly. I didn't know what I wanted to pursue. Like a way of life.
Sun girl, why are the words, they’re not sticking
Sun girl, love me now that you’re leaving
Sun girl, love me now that I’m gone
I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do and I was trying to get help with it. And I could see that E. is a bit lost during that time so it's just like I’m trying to figure out what I want but I’m trying to help you too. I know we are both confused but it will work out.
Sun girl, where’s that smile that I know?
Sun girl, do you ever feel lonely?
The themes that prevail in the lyrics are human relationships, whether with the city, or with yourself, or with your girlfriend, with your boyfriend or whatever... I don't know, with a place... and I think you can easily identify with these.
In the second minute of the piece, the rest of the instruments stop for a few seconds and only a guitar remains. It had come up to us at the time (in a rehearsal). The others stopped playing because they thought the song was over and I kept playing and then we all went in together. So we liked it and kept it. It's accidentally intentional. It happens quite often.
The last verse also has a second voice, that of Irene. We wanted something that would make the last verse stand out from the other two.
The fuzz that exists sonically is also reflected in the video clip: We like noise as a concept... We realized that indeed this "I feel lost" from which the song started is related to the hustle and bustle of the city. You get lost very easily in a city, I think. The center, the cars... All this noise makes you even more lost, the crowds...
A piece that captures to a large extent the strange decade of the 20s. The chaos that prevails in many areas of our daily life, the concerns that surround us, the questions for which we have not found answers, the insecurities that we feel. A need to be embraced, we and our problems, and at the same time a declaration of our intention to do the same for the people we love. And all this with such an optimistic and tender note, as the title itself.
Sun girl
📝: Anna Maria Louloudi
