The world was an angry place during 2010, with people venting their frustrations by smashing Tory party HQ windows, leaking confidential information across the Internet, and shouting outside Topshop. However, one form of protest remains universally acknowledged: taking the piss out of the middle-classes.
“Sucking lemons, nibbling couscous and a scooped-out avocado filled with bamboo – you look ridiculous / Not everyone can afford to eat as healthily as you do,” whisper David Best’s breathy, accusatory vocals on Fujiya And Miyagi’s new album ‘Ventriloquizzing’. The track in question, ‘Taiwanese Boots’ (named in homage to Dylan’s beautiful ‘Boots Of Spanish Leather’), is a comical but angry swipe at misguided middle-class values, representing a series of dark observations that pervade the band’s fourth album.
“It’s a snidey song I suppose,” considers Best, “but there is that hypocrisy about people who drive to their organic bread shop fifty yards away and pat themselves on the back for it. Things generally are pretty rubbish at the moment, and I think to ignore that would make what we do irrelevant.”
But this isn’t to paint Fujiya And Miyagi as miserable doomsters – far from it. The wider scope of their new record also reveals a warmer, organic sound, arising from live drums (courtesy of Lee Adams, now making F&M a four-piece, along with singer/guitarist David, Steve Lewis on synth and bassist Matt Hainsby) and renowned producer Thom Monahan working on the album, after a recommendation from Au Revoir Simone. “Although he’s known for working with acoustic acts like Devendra Banhart, he’s got a great love for electronic music,” says Best. “I thought if we worked with someone else it would stop us falling into our default setting, which had to be a good thing.”
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However, one Fujiya-And-Miyagi-ism remains pleasingly intact on ‘Ventriloquizzing’: Best’s knack for modern-day storytelling through his series of enticing lyrical pictures, relaying observations and thoughts, from the gleefully everyday to the unashamedly weird, all delivered in his characteristically hushed tones. “I think it comes down to the fact that I’m not a great singer,” says Best, “so I need to fill up a song with what I think are interesting words. I’ve always liked lyricists who come up with something that’s not obvious and words that take you off guard.”
“I think maybe on the previous record we went a bit overboard with that,” he admits, “using words for words’ sake – which might not be a bad thing – but I feel that on this record we got it right. Everything’s there for a reason.”
Words by Tristan Parker
Read the full interview with Fujiya And Miyagi in the current issue of Clash Magazine.
