While he’ll continue to wear those masks (and more, we’re betting), O’Connor is now strutting into the spotlight under his own name as he prepares to release his debut solo album, Vanity Is Forever, this September via Guy Blackman’s local imprint Chapter Records. Following a whirlwind visit to New York City in May to play the four-day Popfest alongside The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, O’Connor has dropped the album’s lead single, Whatever Leads Me To You, which he launches at the Buffalo Club on Saturday August 20.

The song’s ice-cold synths and flanged guitars match the saturated hues of its accompanying video, which O’Connor directed, filmed and edited in his North Melbourne home. The clip also features some familiar female faces enacting (pretty chirpy) revenge on their inattentive lovers: Jessica Venables (Jessica Says) and O’Connors’ keys player Esther Edquist (also of drone outfit Superstar) get their Alida Valli on as O’Connor croons about the shameful things he’d do to get close to his crush. It’s cool, lust-fuelled and tongue-in-cheek – and very promising of what’s to come from the Melbourne pop prince.

Geoffrey O’Connor plays with Teeth & Tongue and Dreaming And Delicious at the Buffalo Club on Saturday August 20. Doors from 7.30pm.

myspace.com/geoffreyoconnor