Fashion Club - “Feign For Love”

Earlier this week, Los Angeles’ Fashion Club announced the forthcoming release of their debut album, Scrutiny, and shared a video for its lead single, “Feign For Love.” The relatively new project is the brainchild of Pascal Stevenson (Moaning, Girlpool), who started releasing music under the moniker in mid-2019. After sharing two more tracks, one in 2020 and another earlier this year, it appears that things are starting to pick up steam for this exciting art rock act.

“Feign For Love” is experimental pop at its finest, as Stevenson pulls in a variety of alluring sounds, simultaneously drawing influence from the minimalist synth textures of mid-period Wire and more expansive, reverb-soaked production styles. Stevenson’s vocals are coarse and cut quite deep, as her curt messaging on the process behind trying to conceal your true feelings expounds on the toll it can take: “Consequence. Forced to the back of your mind. If you push it even deeper and deeper down. You might leave it all behind.”

Stevenson shared that the meaning behind “Feign For Love” stems from her “compulsion to try and hide the true meaning of my work behind layers of figurative language. It’s also confronting the dissonance between that compulsion and the intense desire to be seen and heard that drives me to write songs in the first place.”

The video, which was directed by Max Flick, sees Stevenson transform themselves, the lyrics becoming more distorted and illegible in tandem with her image:

The video takes that feeling of trying to create a beautiful facade to hide something hideous and makes it more tangible,” Stevenson says, “It’s this kind of placid beauty with something dark lurking underneath.”

Stream the video below!

Scrutiny is set for release on June 17th via Felte. You can pre-order a copy on limited edition vinyl via Bandcamp. “Feign For Love” is available on all streaming platforms. Keep up with Fashion Club by following them on Instagram. 

Fashion Club is performing at 2220 Arts + Archives with Dayton Swim Club, Beat Beat, and Gay Felony. Tickets are available now!