The uprise of Luvcat and romantic rock.
Luvcat is an alternative rock band formed by Liverpudlian lead singer, Sophie Morgan, who gained much-deserved recognition after their song, ‘Matador’, went viral via TikTok. Morgan’s musical journey did not begin as Luvcat, though, but as an acoustic singer-songwriter, having released her first of many EP’s in 2017. Although she remains armed with her piano keys, unique lyrical style and hauntingly beautiful and emotive vocals, Luvcat is wildly different from Sophie’s previous musical endeavours as she adopts four band members, a more alternative sound and a darker, distinct aesthetic of red lipstick, crucifixes and black lace and tulle. She said Luvcat was “like a swan, all fully formed”, suggesting that after years of making music whilst she grew into adulthood, Luvcat is her authentic ‘shape’.
This ‘shape’ has been embraced and celebrated by many impressed viewers on TikTok after she posted a video of her in a small venue, singing a song she wrote about an experience with a relationship with someone who valued destruction, and the feeling of desperation and disappointment with being a hopeless romantic, unable to change this: ‘I tried my best / to turn your black eyes hazel / and kiss away your cruelty’. This video accumulated thousands of views and positive responses to her moving lyrics and brazen performance – her fingers held to her head like horns – and she began to gain followers and fans who pleaded with her to release the song.
Much like Luvact herself, her single – ‘Matador’– has had its own lengthy journey, beginning in the form of a fifteen-second video over a year ago, and has now evolved into Luvcat’s first single, released on the 31st of May. It has been incredibly well-received with an impressive 200,000 plus streams since its introduction into the world. However, this is no doubt only the beginning for both Luvcat and ‘Matador’.
She played her first show since the release of ‘Matador’ at East London’s beloved indie music venue, The George Tavern, on Friday 7th June as a support act for Velvetine, a post-punk come shoe-gaze four-piece band. With a glass of red wine beside her, she sat at a tired, wooden piano which she described as ‘honky’ and continued to play alluringly despite the piano’s accused ‘honkiness’.
Accompanied by her bandmate who sat on a stool with his acoustic guitar, Luvcat performed a stripped-down set for the small-venue’s audience, which included some of her new and eager-eyed fans who had relished ‘Matador’ and were excited to see it played live in the flesh. The acoustic version of the song was seemingly slower and without the drums or guitar riffs to keep the song upbeat, the emotional lyrics became even more poignant and Luvcat’s vocals became shrouded in feeling– a sense of desperation in her voice as she sang ‘I don’t wanna bleed anymore’. After the song and the loud applause had finished, she gushed about the release of her first single and commented on the surreality of some of the audience members singing the song along with her.
Luvcat also played some of their other songs which concerned similar topics of instability, romance and amour. She played her song, ‘Alchemy’, which she said was written about ‘being whisked away to Paris by a French man’ and another song with the lovelorn lyrics, ‘when are you gonna make me your baby? / You know I belong in your arms’.
Only a few days after this performance, Luvcat announced her first headline show at Paper Dress Vintage on July 3rd of this year, so grab a ticket if you want to experience the beginning of Luvcat’s inevitable uprising.