In Conversation With #156 - Feng Suave
The end of August saw Amsterdam based duo Feng Suave release their new EP ‘So Much For Gardening’. which sees them sitting between 1970s soul and modern indie-pop. Taking inspiration from the likes of Bill Withers and The Beatles, as well as modern contemporaries such as Weyes Blood, Father John Misty and Timber Timbre. The band took a moment to talk to us about how the EP came together.
Hey there Feng Suave, how are you? So your EP is finally here, how does it feel to have it out there in the world?
Hi! We're good. It feels good to have our EP out in the world. Listeners may not always realise this, but there's usually a long lag-time of about 6 months between finishing music and releasing it, for various reasons. For us, the most exciting time was recording and mixing the songs. It's a good feeling to finally share it with everybody, though, and the knowledge that other people are listening to our music outside of the 10-people-or-so inner circle gives us a fresh perspective as well.
It is called 'So Much For Gardening' - can you tell us the meaning behind that?
Well, gardening, in the civilian suburban sense, is the act of manicuring one's garden. The natural world, of course, has no need for human gardeners but human gardens do – because they are, generally speaking, an artificial patch of grass. While gardening is of course a wonderful and wholesome activity and can be beneficial to the environment if you do it right, it's futile if you look at the world in a broader sense. So I guess 'gardening' in the title is a kind of metaphor for our little futile human manicuring habits and the 'so much for' implies that it has been tried and abandoned. We didn't think about the title much before people started asking us about it, to be honest.
Where was it recorded? Any behind the scenes stories from the creative process you are happy to share with us?
It was recorded at Helmbreker Studios in Haarlem, The Netherlands. Haarlem is a pretty picturesque town west of Amsterdam. We had a really good time recording it with our friends Kike, Ivar, Gino, Smienk, Adura and engineer Jasper. It was our first time recording on to tape. There was a Harley Davidson motorcycle in the studio building but none of us got to ride it. Also, none of us have a license.
What are the key themes and influences on the EP? Hey there Feng Suave, how are you?
There's no one theme that runs throughout the EP. It's pretty loosely put together in terms of lyrical content. Overall we do find a lot of inspiration lyrically in artists like Father John Misty, Velvet Underground/Lou Reed and Timber Timbre/Taylor Kirk. These lyricists can all be observational while being personal, and aren't afraid to get abstract or specific. They can all be somewhere between cynical and romantic too, which we feel is a good place to operate in terms of lyrics.
In terms of the music we were mostly inspired by artists from the late 60's and early 70's. Bands like the Kinks, the Beatles, the Millennium, the Beach Boys and The Mamas & The Papas are pretty obvious influences. But another side of music history, such as Bill Withers, Al Green and Nina Simone will also always remain a huge inspiration, although perhaps not as apparent on this record.
Do you have a favorite lyric on the EP? If so, which one and why?
Good question. There's a couple good ones there. I think my favourite is:
"Most everyday
I'm relating more
To the animals
At the local zoo
Where all the rocks
Are artificial"
It's a lyric about walking past the local zoo in Amsterdam and seeing the likeness between how unnatural the environment of the animals is, and comparing that to our own. In the Netherlands, and most big cities around the world, we are surrounded by concrete and tall buildings, removed from the natural surroundings we were once so familiar with. Sometimes this realisation can feel quite troubling. We're all trying to be the monkey leader on our plastic rocks. It's a funny comparison but touches on something we both deeply feel.
Now the EP is out there, what's next for you?
Working on our debut album. The time has come, finally. We're busy writing the thing and are already very excited to be trying something fresh and new in album format. In the modern era of music it's easy to neglect the art of making a good album that serves a purpose as a whole, front to back. Not just singles. So we're taking that very seriously and are trying our best to make it something special.