Felicita - Frenemies

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  • See the deeply strange website for Frenemies and your mind will probably jump to PC Music, but Felicita is her (or his?) own being. The project's debut EP lands on new label Gum Artefacts, and it takes the cute-factor of AG Cook and co so far down the rabbit hole it becomes unnerving. Frenemies is much more than just keen image-making. It's as if someone took apart SOPHIE tracks with a screwdriver so the parts wiggle about individually, creating a fascinatingly weird and dissociative experience that takes pop music deconstruction to an almost ridiculous level. Most of the songs on Frenemies consist of erratic rhythms and frantic talking—lots of talking, layered to the point where it's more like an aural word cloud with only a few comprehensible phrases. Sometimes it's a twisted nursery rhyme, like on the insistent, creepy "Climb Up Eh," or in the cacophony of "MMMHM," where the vocals command a tidal surge of atonal synths. The beats are just as inscrutable: on "Doves" the cartoonishly fast-slow-fast drums feel powered by a rusty hand crank, while each stumbling kick on "Skip Blush" sets off a percussive chain reaction that recalls the board game Mouse Trap. Over these seven tracks, Felicita's ramshackle approach to composition might induce fatigue, but each tune is different enough to hold your attention. "When You Get Home" is lush with MIDI instruments, while the cheery "Wish" is all ice-cream-truck vibes. There is some gorgeous singing on "Skip Blush" (even if it does sound more like vocal warmups), and the unsettling closer "Bring It" features acoustic guitar textures, though it sounds like it's being played by an amateur. Like all of the music in this quasi-anonymous and increasingly crowded "cute" world, it might be hard to take Frenemies seriously, but that would be a shame—this is music as challenging and rewarding as what you might find on experimental institutions like Editions Mego or PAN, it's just wrapped up in a different set of aesthetics.
  • Tracklist
      01. Doves 02. Skip Blush 03. Climb Up Eh 04. When You Get Home 05. Wish 06. Mmmhm 07. Bring It
RA