What do the Baltic Sea area and its birch trees, the Eurovision Song Contest, Anglo-Saxon literature of the Early Middle Ages and Seattle during the 90’s have in common? Well, for starters they’re all referenced in the press release accompanying Femme En Fourrure’s often-beautiful, always well crafted and sometimes slightly mystifying EP.
A somewhat bizarre list of muses, whether sincere or poking fun at the hyperbole permeating from many of the music industry’s copywriters somehow, once you’ve read it and heard the record, things make a strange kind of sense. Comprising four tracks, despite two being variations on the same arrangement (the titular number) each has a personality strong enough to be taken seriously in its own right. The Beach in its original guise apparently takes much inspiration from the non-dance world as it does the realm of deep electronics, emerging in a kind of proggy pop terrain that nods to everything from Kate Bush and Bullion to Sasha.
Similarly situated away from mainstream dancefloors, or indeed dancefloors of any kind at all, unless they are experienced within some Arabesque dream sequence crammed full of hallucinatory, or at least opiate imagery, is Apple of My Eye, wherein downbeats and soaring, mysterious vocals could show Massive Attack how to sedate. As such those looking for something more solid are left with the vibrating kick drums of Palms Glide Up Thighs- a hypnotic, heads down outing defined by what’s either a drone or muffled vocal choir and is either seductive or slightly scary, depending on opinion- as a sole means to get sweaty. But, let’s face it, in January we’re just fine without the punishing tempos and frenetic builds, as our love of Maria Minerva’s Arrythmia interpretation of The Beach, presented as a final offering here, a cut squarely aimed at fans of slo(wer)-mo beats, warm pads and tangible grooves.
