03 March 2011
Brothers and bandmates Ben and Ross Duffy are sitting at Sydney’s Four Seasons hotel, the two Fenech-Soler members are here promoting their band’s self-titled debut on the Good Vibrations tour and have just ordered (in thick Northhampton accents) a cup of English Breakfast tea. To anyone who initially thought they were French, here’s your proof they are in fact, English. But it wasn’t just the moniker that had people scratching their heads, the electro-pop quartet released their first single The Cult Of Romance on Alan Braxe’s French label, Kitsune.
“We were introduced to London via Paris and everyone thought we were Parisian, then we told them we were from a little village in England,” laughs frontman and keyboardist, Ben.
It was in their mother’s home in Kings Cliffe where they recorded the whole debut, “we had two studios set up. Well we say that, but they were bedrooms really,” confesses younger brother and keyboardist, Russ. The band completely took the DIY route; the Duffy’s were in charge of the core of the writing whilst drummer Andrew Lindsay and band namesake, Daniel Soler (who plays bass and synth) would add their percussive and electronic flair before mixing it.
“Quite early on we had it in our head that we’d get to work with a producer at some point. You think wow that will be amazing, they’ll sprinkle this sparkle dust onto each track. Then we did Lies and we thought ‘shit, fuck it’ we can probably just go and do this ourselves,” says Russ. “Especially where the industry is at the minute, for us, being self-sufficient as a band has always been a priority,” adds Ben.
The finished product, which was released last month here in Australia through independent label Shock, isn’t your run-of-the-mill British angst release; it’s “based on colour and imagery and escapism,” says Russ.
“Obviously we were there at home in a small room making a record and that comes across in the lyrics that it’s not necessarily a social commentary or trying to be like angsty or angry or doing the typical British-indie ‘heartbroken outside a fish ‘n’ chip shop’ thing. That wasn’t really interesting to us,” he explains.
In 2006 the Duffy brothers decided they didn’t want to be indie, or heartbroken for that matter, so while electronic music was making an enduring resurgence in the UK that same year, Fenech-Soler would drive the two-hours to London every weekend to play club nights and warehouse parties.
“We were like ‘do we wanna be in a band or do we wanna start making music?’ DJ’s became a really interesting thing in the way the sets were put together…that’s how we started writing with more of a club show in mind,” says Russ. Now, the band are both, their live show of keys, drums, bass and Ben’s manic stage presence tied in with feverish electro-pop makes for a distinctive set most electro acts don’t offer. “We didn’t want to be hunched over a laptop. No disrespect to them but I think that alienates the audience and we want to perform,” he adds.
In many ways they have their electric live performance to thank for having a spotlight thrown on them by UK duo, Groove Armada, who featured Ben on their single Paper Romance. Ben says the collaboration was the pivotal coup to Fenech-Solar’s success.
“I definitely think in the last four years in the UK, collaborations have become so important and that’s probably what this decade of music will be remembered for,” he says.
Ben has even done his homework on Australian electro acts, and says the album mixes experimental sounds found here with American influences and their take on pop.
“It’s a mixture of bands, kind of like Cut Copy and The Presets here in Australia, but with a modern American pop influence.
“It’s essentially just a pop record that’s half in the band world and half in the electronic sphere. I think when we were writing the album we didn’t set out to write songs that were three minutes thirty and had a middle eight and chorus,” Russ states, reassuring us the pop that did inspire them doesn’t involve the work of America’s Britneys or Katy Perrys.
“I think being popular and credible is probably the goal of every band.”
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