FURNS are described as “The Danish power couple with the distinctive logo”. With this album though, they’re proving themselves far more than that. The 13 track album delivers a smooth and diverse mix of sounds, one that may not make sense if it weren’t for the constant dreamy vocals that tie the conceptuality of the album together.
The opener ‘Life Is Easy’ really sets the tone for the album, a light electronic production number with these powerful soulful vocals dripping across the tips and tops of the production. It’s somewhere between blues, jazz and lo-fi house, so as you can imagine, super easy on the ears. Rolling in slow is ‘Nite Time’, where the production takes centre stage, a poolside housey/disco number that is so warm and textured it makes you feel a little fuzzy inside. Number 3, ‘Motion Picture’ has some borderline ‘Amy Winehouse’ vibes going on, you can feel her stretching a little more with vocals and it does wonders.
Continuing the tempo changes ‘China’ comes in and bares a similar feel to ‘Nite Time’, where the production takes focus and is complimented by the vocal, rather than vice versa. It carries a much more poppy feel to it, yet doesn’t feel overly commercialised. This next number, ‘Waiting For Me’ really brings out the jazzy blues, particularly in vocal context. It’s gentle, subtle and carries a burden of sadness in her voice, yet has those jazzy flings to it. Keeping the tempo right down ‘Good Things’ comes in and is a production focused track that carries you softly into the sunset in a small boat, with nothing but a gentle breeze blowing in your sails. Dreamy is the word best fitting for it.
The album shifts tone with ‘Jangala’, it’s interesting as the song itself feels like an intermission between the first half and second half of the album, heavy elevator vibes. ‘Shapes In The Dark’ has a beautiful vocal context going on to it, my interpretation was that of saving someone from depression and societies overbearing expectations, a reminder we all need to have. Another poolside lo-fi house jam, showcasing the diverse production skills comes in next with ‘We Gotta Hold On’, gently layered synths and drawn out vocal samples really take this one home.
‘Too Late’ and ‘Alone’ keep those dancefloor feelings alive, despite having some darker vocal context in ‘Alone’, the songs still maintain a really upbeat and euphoric feel. Both really lend themselves to summer and warm times with the textures of the songs. ‘The End’, which is ironically not the end of the album, really surprised me. It has a completely different feel to everything else on the album, the instrumental side of quite psychedelic, yet her vocals remain the same. It again appears to cover themes of depression, a common theme in the albums emotive context. Wrapping it up we have ‘First Snow’, it feels like it was added purely as an experimental finish to the body of work, a goodnight and sleep well after the listening experience. My personal favourite was without a doubt ‘Nite Time’, it’s so so smooth and fresh that you can’t help but enjoy it.
A sold body of work and an exciting time for this duo! Can’t wait for more.
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author: Elliott Armour