Feeding Fingers - The Occupant (2013)

Probeer het album eens te omschrijven Reptile. Evenaart dit album het debuut? Want dat is een plaat die ik nog wel eens beluister. De "moeilijke tweede" niet meer.

Waarom zou ik moeilijk gaan doen terwijl je hem gewoon kan downloaden, CD: http://www.feedingfingers.com Je mag ervoor geven wat je zelf wil. Kan je zelf oordelen. Laat je niet afschrikken door de opener.

Mijn favoriete nummer is momenteel I Drink Disappearing Ink.

Goh, niet te koop via Sounds for Sure?
Feeding Fingers go/geht Xmal Deutschland

Ik verkoop geen downloads. Als het goed is komt hij in februari wel ook op cd uit en ik verwacht zeker wel dat hij dan in de webshop komt.

Misschien toch maar eens beluisteren, hun debuut vond ik namelijk een bescheiden topper. Ben de band daarna echter compleet uit het oog verloren.

Mooie hoes trouwens.

Ben je een 'oude bekende', Onttovenaar?

Nee maar......een wedergeboorte....zou gezellig zijn.

Deze site heeft me inderdaad in een vorig leven gekend.
Mijn laatste bericht onder mijn verwijderde account dateert echter al van 2009.
Beetje woelige tijden gekend sindsdien.

Maar nu word ik dus geboren in het weder,
zoals het de gezelligheid betaamt.
Het oude laat ik echter onbekend.
Behalve dan het dankwoord voor een reptielgeschenkje,
waarmee ik duidelijk maak dat alles goed gaat.

Terug naar het album: zonet beluisterd en moet eerlijk bekennen dat de eerste indruk niet onuitwisbaar is. Op die momentopname gaan we ons echter niet baseren. Dat zou niet stroken met mijn waardering voor Justin Curfman.
Album beetje laten inwerken dus

Gek, of juist niet, maar ik wist direct wie je was. Goed te horen dat het goed met je gaat!

Ik wil je een tip geven voor dit album: luister het eens met koptelefoon op dan hoor je de afwerking van de nummers beter. Zeker bij nummers als I Am No One That I Know, Breathing Partners en I Drink Disappearing Ink heeft dat echt een meerwaarde! Het zijn eigenlijk gewoon mooie soundscapes die Justin hier heeft gecreëerd.

Er zijn kennelijk gemakkelijkere zaken dan jou voor de gek houden

Bedankt voor de koptelefoontip, ga ik zeker eens doen.
Nu gewoon even uitvogelen waar die vermaledijde koptelefoon zich bevindt

Ik zeg in de kast bij de -k !

Ik lees graag terug over die luisterervaring. Het was al laat toen ik dit album voor het eerst ging luisteren en ik deed dat toen met koptelefoon op. Ik heb zeker van die nummers erg genoten, maar ook van nummers als Blisters First, Inside the Body of an Animal (als oud Cure liefhebber kan je dat vast wel waarderen) en Mine Is Not the Only Voice in My Head met de violen en gevoelsmatige diepgang (heb het idee dat het een nogal persoonlijk nummer is van Justin).

Zo zeg dat wel. Wat een verschrikkelijke opener zeg, blij dat ik de cd erna niet afgezet heb. Toffe muziek, van deze band waar ik nooit eerder van gehoord had. Neigt her en der beetje naar the Cure, ik noem een Where the Treads Are the Thinnest, erg gaaf. Vaker luisteren, en misschien ook maar achter eerder werk aan.

Van alle albums neigt deze nog wel het minst naar muziek als The Cure, maar je gaat vorige albums ook vast wel kunnen waarderen.

Even de clipjes toegevoegd. Justin Curfman heeft dus al 6 videoclips bij dit album.


Dat was dus wel de bedoeling geweest, maar ik heb cd's gekregen met een error erin. Er is dus best wat mis gegaan hier... Jammer, heb nu dus wel cd's liggen, maar track 2 stopt midden in het nummer. Als ik zelf geen cd had willen hebben had ik dat niet eens geweten en had ik ze gewoon verkocht.

Als je eenmaal midden in het lichaam van een beest zit, dan begeeft het hart het.
logische conclusie toch?

Ja logisch, maar echt mooi is het niet.

Inderdaad erg vervelend, ik denk dat Justin hier ook van baalt.
Heb je hem op de hoogte gesteld?

Jep, hij weet er van.

Ik kan met redelijke zekerheid zeggen dat dit album op vinyl gaat uitkomen. Als het meezit dit jaar nog, maar daar ga ik wel vanuit. Het project wordt een samenwerking tussen het Sounds for Sure label en Curfman's Tephramedia.

Ik heb een review geschreven in het Engels. Dit zodat Justin Curfman het ook direct kan lezen / gebruiken als hij dat wil.

The Occupant is already the fourth studio album by Justin Curfman’s Feeding Fingers. Curfman, an extremely creative centipede, could be considered some kind of sophisticated DIY wonder, who has the full control over all his artistic output.
Since I’ve been following Curfman from his first cd release in 2007 I’ve clearly noticed a development in his musical output. From the moment I first heard Feeding Fingers I have been shouting around that The Cure had had its best days and seem to have become more a kind of indie band instead of the mysterious post-punk/new wave band they used to be and that Feeding Fingers was their follow up. I heard Feeding Fingers do what I would have liked The Cure to do, but they simply just didn’t. So in a way Feeding Fingers filled up a gap getting inspiration from early 80’s post-punk and new wave, without being a copycat and always knowing that a new album would contain some wonderful new creative material in their unique own style and sound. Because one thing is for sure: Feeding Fingers has its very own sound that can be recognized from miles by only hearing the first notes of a song.
In my opinion that is something to be proud of for any band.

And that very own sound that I’m talking about is coming to a peak on The Occupant, the album that I will try to give a descent review here. ‘Cause that’s what it deserves.

After Curfman moved to Germany in 2010 he stranded in a kind of writer’s block. Only the song Blisters First dates from this period. The rest of the songs were written in 2012.
When he finally got to the point of working on a new album Justin Curfman kept his fans up-to-date via Facebook. His messages made them very curious about the direction he was going with this album. For things like recording with a young choir boy, learning how to make a track on some old music box and recording real violin with a guest musician all belonged to the things that came by on the Feeding Fingers wall. The creative mind really was up to something different than he had done before was an easy interpretation to make from all of this. And he was.

The album starts with a completely unexpected a capella song sung by a young choir boy (Jonas Binder) containing some noise below it like it’s played from an old gramophone. It’s like a two and half minute intro that doesn’t give you any clue at all about what is going to happen next. Has Justin gone mad? Have his artistic needs driven him to far away from any ‘normal’ human mind to be able to follow him any longer? No, thank God, they haven’t.
Curfman is sometimes hard to follow. And therefore maybe we shouldn’t try. What you have to do is experience. And when you just do that you will find out that Eine Einladung in Ihr Gesicht mit Liebe geschnitzt is a mysterious opener that prepares you for the unexpected and at the same time creates an enormous contrast to receive the next song on its very best. Anyway, this is how I experience it.

This next song is Inside the Body of an Animal. With this song Feeding Fingers gives us a beautiful ballad-like song with a dreamy atmosphere which is not in any way inferior to what The Cure did on Disintegration and Wish. Layers of drums, bass, synth and guitar are the basis for the piano melody and Justin’s voice completes the harmonies and lifts up the song to unfold its entire beauty. On this part we’re still in line with what I said about Feeding Fingers filling up the gap that The Cure left behind.

Also the third track of this album still is in line with this. Maybe my comparison is somewhat unilateral, because I have to mention The Cure again here (for almost the last time, I promise). The thing is I cannot help thinking of a song like Let’s Go To Bed when I hear Where the Threads Are the Thinnest. This is especially because of the rhythm that the beats and bass create here.
It’s a bit up-tempo track which will probably do best on an 80’s party dance floor. I’m pretty sure that no one that doesn’t know Feeding Fingers will notice that this wasn’t really made in the 80’s.

After the unexpected intro and two songs that we would expect from Feeding Fingers it’s time for something different: I Am No One That I Know. Forget post-punk and enter the world of Justin Curfman on his best. This is a completely other level than where Feeding Fingers took us before. The acoustic sound, the indefinable ominous layer throughout the song, Justin’s story telling singing with his darker voice added in the refrain parts is so effective to lift this song to another level that it’s simply ingenious. I never heard anything like it, making it a unique creation to me personally. And I simply love it. Make sure you listen to this also with headphones to not miss the full effect of the second voice.

You might expect from here that we will keep on heading for more tracks like this right away. Well, we’re not. This style doesn’t continue right away. But we keep going up, that’s for sure. For the last time here I will mention The Cure. That is only because this song is at least of the level of and comparable with tracks like Prayers for Rain and Fascination Street. I am so touched by Blisters First that every time again that I hear it the shivers go down my spine and goose bumps appear on my arms. The way it builds up gentle to the most beautiful wall of sound, the melody as well of the guitar as of the voice, the feelings that are put in it all make this song as beautiful as it is. Can one fall in love with a song? Yes, even to many songs at the same time. And I have fallen in love with at least half the tracks on this album. That is an amazing performance in my opinion. This song is so freakin’ perfect that it’s almost scary. If Justin Curfman would want he’d make the Disintegration follow up that The Cure was never able to make again. Anyway, he is not doing that and I’m sure it’s not his intention. He only shows that he can at times. He follows another direction which produces also tracks like the fabulous I Am No One That I Know and there’s more in that category to come on this album.

When this album would be on vinyl, which I hope will happen one day, Blisters First would be a hell of an ending of the A side. Auflösen Wie Familien Tun would be a wonderful opening of the B side, because, like Eine Einladung in Ihr Gesicht mit Liebe Geschnitzt , it’s an intro to the unexpected. It doesn’t give a clue where we are going from here and at the same time we feel the contrast again with Paper Dolls Would Eat Glass for Us. The latter confirms Curfman’s connection to the gothic / darkwave scene more than any track on the album. It’s like: “Hey guys, I got something for you too again.” It’s dark and it’s not hard to imagine Goths do their floating dance acts on it.
On the other hand, when I think about it again Auflösen Wie Familien Tun would also be a great ending of the A side and Paper Dolls Would Eat Glass for Us would make a great start for the B side. Well, when it will be released on vinyl we know which one it’s going to be. Since both choices seem good it can’t go wrong.

Like records sometimes have some songs on a row that form a connection or are especially extremely strong together, The Occupant has that on this part of the record in my opinion. The golden threesome starts with Breathing Partners. The style of this song can somewhat be compared to I Am No One That I Know, but this time with drums. I think the genre is called ‘Curfman’. It’s unique and awesome. Again we hear a layer of some ominous sounds. Certainly make sure you listen to this one with headphones too. It’s made to perfection in any detail it contains. There’s so much depth in this song that you could fall into it when you’d slip on an unattended moment. It’s not so hard to fall in love with it either. It has all the excitement and beauty that only can be found in the highest level of music in general.

The second song of this golden threesome is Mine is Not the Only Voice in My Head. How fragile a song can be, that fragile this one is. The piano based song with violin added to it by Maja Backovic (officially announced as new Feeding Fingers member on May 14 2014) gives a feeling of wandering into the deepest corners of a man’s soul. One can only listen quietly and be touched by the beauty that is being revealed here.

The last song of my so called golden threesome is I Drink Disappearing Ink. It starts as if you’re being sucked into some mysterious world, where right at the start you probably feel like you don’t want to be there. Already very soon when the ukulele (if I’m right about that) comes in that changes. It’s not a scary world you’re entering here. It just differs from what you’re used to. The rhythm is simple but effective. When the organ starts you can really start to feel completely comfortable and nest yourself into the song. A beautiful delicate singing melody even lifts it up to a heavenly musical experience. I could listen to this for days without ever getting bored. Goosebumps appear with the lyric ‘I drink disappearing ink to forget you…’ And I’m in love with a song again.
This song also makes me think of the Talk Talk masterpiece Spirit of Eden. Probably it’s because of the organ and beautiful sensitive melody. It’s a good thing when something reminds me of one of my all time favorite albums.

This is where the album ends, almost. Because it wouldn’t be a Feeding Fingers album when it wouldn’t end as mysterious as it started. With Walzer für eine Spieluhr Justin Curfman created his own melody on a real music box. You can hear so clearly how it’s winded up and then it plays the melody. Every sound the music box makes has been recorded so clearly that it’s as if it’s standing here next to you. Anyone who ever saw one of Justin’s animation movies with the somewhat weird puppets can imagine those puppets moving around while this music box is playing Justin’s composition. It feels a bit like being left with a large question mark floating above your head. What’s next? What to do now? Is there nothing left after this? Well… all you need to do is turn over your record and play it again.

What becomes clear after having dived completely into this album is that, to me personally of course, it’s going deeper than any previous Feeding Fingers album. It has a depth in which one can lose oneself completely. The music is layered more than ever as well.
A difficulty about making music is that artists often are put in a box. You’re a bluesman, a pop singer, a rock chick, Goth rocker, in a new wave band… Feeding Fingers also have been put in a box by many who know them. It’s a post-punk/new wave/gothic rock band or something in that area, most people would say after having heard some of their music. Probably until their previous album it could be more or less acceptable to put them in that box. But on this album Justin Curfman picks up the box, shakes it hard and turns it around with as a result a completely different kind of Feeding Fingers, though still recognizable as Feeding Fingers.
This might confuse people who expect the band to stay in their box. On the other hand this should make it possible for the band to reach a new public. With Feeding Fingers I have the feeling that they still have to be discovered by a larger public. I’m sure a lot more people would enjoy this album a lot and even as much as I do.
I clearly recall the time that Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden just had been released. I was so enthusiastic about the album that I wanted to tell anyone about this revolutionary album I had heard. I felt a bit alone in it. Now it’s considered a timeless masterpiece by many. I’m a lot older now. Music has developed further and all kind of new styles popped up. Still, once again, I feel a bit like at that time. This album differs a lot from anything I heard before. It has to be heard, it deserves attention, cries out for a public that can feel the songs. Will you be one of them?


PERSONAL FAVORITES (in order of the album):
Inside the Body of an Animal
I Am No One That I Know
Blisters First
Breathing Partners
Mine is Not the Only Voice in My Head
I Drink Disappearing Ink

Hello Paul,

I'm Tom Howard, review editor of NME, and I would like to offer you a job as a reviewer for our music magazine. Please contact me at our office in London.

Best regards,

Tom

hahaha you funny guy.

Op het Feeding Fingers blog staat nu het review, compleet met luisterlinkjes:
The Occupant review by Paul Tetteroo

Ik kan met grote zekerheid zeggen dat dit nog niet is gebeurd. Andere prioriteiten. Wie weet later nog. In februari 2016 komt in elk geval het nieuwe album wel op vinyl uit bij Sounds for Sure. Dat wordt een driedubbel album genaamd 'Attend'.

Driedubbel

Hebbes! Dit album klinkt toch beter dan ik dacht en daarom doe ik een half sterretje én een koekje erbij voor dit sfeervolle album. Alleen het eerste nummer trek ik niet. Wellicht zal het een bedoeling hebben gehad, maar de jonge koorknaap had beter een ander liedje kunnen pakken. Ook vind je op dit album het alom bekende tingeltangeltje terug, ditmaal in Auflösen wie Familien tun. Dit nummer sla ik soms ook over.

Inside the Body of an Animal daarentegen is weer zo'n typisch weemoedig mooi Feeding Fingers nummer!

De andere toppers zijn Where the Threads Are the Thinnest, dat mij weer aan The Cure doet denken, maar ook dat specifieke Feeding Fingers geluid herbergt dat klinkt alsof je platenspeler niet meer zo heel zuiver op het goede toerental draait en het tragisch vrolijk klinkende I Drink Disappearing Ink.
In het laatst genoemde nummer klinkt de stem van Justin echt mooi!

Inside the Body of an Animal
I Am No One That I Know
Blisters First
Breathing Partners
Mine is Not the Only Voice in My Head
I Drink Disappearing Ink

Die zes nummers blijf ik echt heerlijk vinden. FF op zijn best!