Special Affections

First conceived in the summer of 2009 by Toronto-based multiplatform artist John O, Diamond Rings burst onto the scene with a series of singles and videos featuring green screen camera trickery, over the top choreography, and daring androgynous outfits and makeup. The videos received international praise from both the online media and fashionistas alike. The singles, pressed to limited edition vinyl, sold out in a matter of weeks and received critical praise including “Best New Music” honors from Pitchfork.

Although initially pegged in some corners as a novelty act, audiences soon began to identify with Diamond Rings’ uniquely lyrical brand of pop songwriting and his overtly glamorous live sets. Showcasing real human emotion and honest vulnerability is rare enough for a 24-year-old let alone one who matches his eye shadow with his Air Force Ones while dancing about onstage with the reckless abandon of a teenager in the bathroom mirror. But there’s something surprisingly mature shimmering beneath the glamour, hidden in John O’s immediately iconic voice, and whip-smart lyrics.

Now Diamond Rings is finally settling down long enough to deliver a fully realized album, the much anticipated “Special Affections”. In keeping with his predilection for confounding public expectation, the album dabbles in a wide range of styles and soundscapes. Spacey slow jams give way to aggressive guitar rock that leads seamlessly into shuddering club beats and soaring synth lines. Tying everything together are the heartfelt lyrical sentiments of a young artist interested in far more than getting his audience to “just dance.”

“I’d compare my music to the Starz on 54 cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s ‘If You Could Read My Mind’ that they did for the soundtrack to the movie Studio 54,” John O says, adding, “I do not believe that there needs to be a disconnect between popular music and lyrical honesty.”