nodisco. - “The Symptoms of Vanity”
Photo on previous page: Christopher Borges
Chris Toufexis, aka nodisco., tends to defy being pigeonholed into any specific genre and his latest track, “The Symptoms of Vanity,” is a bit outside of our tastes, but no further than some of our other recent reviews. In the spirit of freeing our minds and opening ourselves up to a plethora of new music, we are inclined to tell you that this new track is simply exquisite.
“The Symptoms of Vanity” was submitted to us under the guise of ‘indietronica, indie Rock, and indie Pop,’ and that is quite an umbrella under which to reside, but what initially caught our eye was his mention of Kurt Cobain in the pitch: “The Symptoms of Vanity” is based on a page the girl handed me that night from the published version of Kurt Cobain's diaries called “Journals,” where on one page he writes, “It’s hard to decipher the difference between a sincere entertainer and an honest swindler,” which then inspired me to think about saying the truth as a songwriter and what that even means, as I play with the common lyrical pop tropes of today.” After that, we were all ears.
Our indietronica-stage-fright was quickly put to bed when we discovered that the track featured some sweet guitar, a grooving bass line, and toe-tappy-drums. Of course, vocals are central to this lively pop tune and they’re quite good. If you mashed John Mayer and Shawn Mendes together… Well, you’d be looking at a minimum of a few decades in prison, but if you did it both metaphorically and musically, you’d have a close approximation to the vocal vibe here.
The lyrics are ultra-relatable for anyone who has been in a relationship with a self-absorbed partner– and, quite honestly, most of us have been there, even if we don’t want to admit it. Still, it’s a happy sounding tune, with a chorus that’s catchier than me in the depths of flu season. I mean, it’s even got some hand claps for your palm slappin’ pleasure. See for yourselves: