Psych-pop outfit, Feng Suave, have just dropped their Warping Youth EP today. Sink into the band’s mellow offerings as we chat about their creative process.

Looking for your next hypnagogic hit? Feng Suave are just the ticket. The Dutch duo – comprised of two Daniëls (Daniël2 if you will), Daniël Schoemaker and Daniël de Jong – make music you really can kick back to.  

 

Emerging with the bedroom-pop boom, which saw talented young musicians from all over the world release relatable, self-produced bops, Feng Suave found a corner of music that was slightly niche but nevertheless instantly likeable. The perfect sonic accompaniment for a lazy sunny day, the chilled-out vibe of Feng Suave’s tunes garnered them a slot touring with psychedelic Texans, Khruangbin, and an appearance at next year’s Great Escape festival in Brighton.

 

The band slid onto the scene in 2017 with an eponymous debut EP, from which the hits “Sink into the Floor” and “Honey, There’s No Time,” were birthed. A year later, they released “Venus Flytrap,” another hugely popular single, and then took a bit of time to work out where they wanted to go next.

 

Now, the Feng Suave are back with a new 6-track EP, Warping Youth. Evoking a mix of their old and new influences, Warping Youth moves away from the ‘bedroom’ sound of their earlier releases but the lyrics still capture the same wit they had before. On the EP, Feng Suave look back at the highs and lows of growing up – a topic we can all agree is endlessly relatable topic.

 

The dyad had already released four of the six tunes featured on the EP in the run up to the release, including the chilled-out “Toking, Dozing” and the daydreamy “Maybe Another Time.” No wonder the tracks have already racked up hundreds of thousands of streams in the short time they’ve been out.

 

We caught up with the two Daniëls to see whether their creative process has changed during lockdown, balancing cynicism with humour, and how they would describe their sound below:

How are you guys doing?

We’re doing well! Hanging in there and keeping it all together.
Talk to us about your creative process – has it changed at all in lockdown?
It hasn’t! We still write and record in the exact same way we otherwise would’ve – what has changed is the amount of time and space that we have to work now. For us it’s been a bit of a blessing to be able to work on new music more instead of touring.
What subject do you find yourself writing about a lot?
Well, we try to find humor in cynicism a lot these days. We like being slightly sarcastic in our lyrics when the melody is melancholy or uplifting, so as to create an interesting contrast. There’s plenty of subject matter in the world to be cynical about – whether it’s the rat race of our hyper-capitalistic societies or environmental degradation – so we find ways to go beyond that and try to be funny or poetic about it. Sometimes we write love songs too.
Where did you get your name from?

So Elvis used to keep this Portuguese shampoo bottle in his shower that said ‘Ultra Suave.’ His former roommate Joris one day was looking at the bottle in question and came up with the brilliant pun Feng Suave. That’s what he named his Instagram profile. We had been looking desperately for a band name at this point and liked this one a lot so we convinced Joris to give the name to us.

What energy do you want your music to give off?

We’re aiming for a timeless, cinematic vibe but we don’t believe we’ve achieved that yet.

In your own words, how would you describe your sound?

Retro-infused Angst Pop (deluxe).

How did you guys come together?

We just liked each other’s vibe and decided to hang out and took it from there! Just friendship!

Best thing to do in your down time?

Going to Switzerland and swimming in a glacial lake.

What inspires your visuals?

Nothing particularly. Our music video director, Bob Sizoo, is usually behind the wheel visually. The music video for “Toking, Dozing” was directed by ourselves though; we wanted a shitty green screen video with lots of stupid costumes and that’s exactly what we did. Whenever we do photoshoots, we just let the photographer do their artistic thing. We love just being ordered around in those situations.

What’s something people wouldn’t know about you?

If there’d be something we truly wouldn’t want people to know about we wouldn’t mention it in a written interview. But don’t worry we’ve got nothing to hide, people! So I guess I’d say we wouldn’t want people to know that we’d just rather make quality wooden furniture in Italy than be in a band in Holland.

Dive into 'Warping Youth' below:

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“Toking, Dozing” by Feng Suave

Dive deep into the psych-pop world of dutch duo Feng Suave who have just released the visuals for their newest single ‘Toking, Dozing’ lifted from their upcoming EP ‘Warping Youth'.