The Brighton band is back with “New Shiny Object”, a collection of stirring and offbeat songs.
Twenty-five years have passed, and while the musicians who comprise it are not spared by the years—like everyone else—the Brighton band stubbornly continues to outplay time and trends.
Old-fashioned, ahead of the curve, western-leaning, ultra-fashionable or brought back into line, the group of Englishmen led by the monotone voice of David Best answers to its own calendar. When James Murphy and his label DFA had success, roughly drawing from the same sources, Fujiya & Miyagi didn’t really benefit from it. Perhaps because of that complicated name, blending a platinum brand and a key character from The Karate Kid.
A contagious electronic nostalgia
No matter what, the quartet does not stray from its refined and ironic line, always more art rock than Oasis. One only has to watch the video for Point 33 Recurring, with its David Byrne-esque dance moves and the fleeting allusion to Kraftwerk’s Trans-Europe Express cover, to grasp its positioning. Fujiya & Miyagi mix Krautrock, brainy disco and electro-pop with their distinctly English off-kilter humour – Elasticated Waste tackles heartburn and even mentions medicines.
Yet, while playing the clever card, the Brightonians know how to command attention: Lowest Common Denominator moves with a solid bassline, Point 33 Recurring grafts a Blur-like riff onto a Talking Heads groove. Carried by a catchy chorus that Best’s voice delivers perfectly, 158 carries contagious electronic nostalgia. Contrary to what its title mocks, an album that is far from tacky or superfluous.
New Shiny Object (Impossible Objects of Desire/Bigwax). Release on October 30.
