For the five minutes that I listened "f a n t a s y l o v e" by LUV, nothing else mattered. The tip-of-the-tongue ’80s intro, diffracting into effervescent, luminous meloromanticism left a taste half-metallic, half-citric in my mouth. It was like witnessing the birth of a musical deity, like the ones we’ve come to know through larger publications: Solange, Blood Orange, Sky Ferreira.
The bedroom project is as youthful as its sound, started by the enigmatic johnny since August 2015, with some material that s/he’d "been working on for years." Listing N’Sync, Prince, Britney Spears, and Ready for the World as major influences, johnny mixed ’90s pop, new wave and R&B inspirations with homespun technique, taking on a markedly different sound from the debut single "leave."
"Empress Of, MNDR, Kimbra, ABRA, this wave of female producers all inspired me to start taking my lil bedroom jams more seriously," johnny says.
LUV is currently planning shows in the Los Angeles area with .paperman in April; check back for more info. Until then, listen to the bedroom producer’s newest EP and hope that this is anything but a fantasy.– Ryan Mo