Evocative vocals. Minimal bedroom-pop production. And intimate lyricism. Introducing Amsterdam-hailed duo Feng Suave. Comprised of Daniël Schoemaker and Daniël de Jong, the Dutch pair have been making waves with their hazy and soulful melodies.
The pair have now released their debut EP “Warping Youth” – packed to the rafters with a feel-good offering of blissful indie pop.
We caught up with the pair and talked about lockdown creativity, generational disillusionment, and their brand new EP.
Hi guys, how is lockdown treating you and influencing your creativity?
The lockdown has given us a lot of spaciousness to write new material that otherwise wouldn’t have been there, but it hasn’t ‘influenced’ us; we don’t write songs differently because of what’s going on.
How did Feng Suave start? How did you both meet?
We both participated in a talent show and kind of enjoyed each other’s performances, so we decided to hang out and make music sometime and went from there.
Why the name Feng Suave?
Because it rolls off the tongue nicely. It’s something Elvis’ roommate came up with in the shower and he’s a lovely dude so it’s got a positive connotation for us too. As a pun it is also mildly funny, so it’s got a lot going for it.
What do you both bring to the group, and what was the first moment you realised that your skills aligned?
De Jong is good at soundscaping and finding sounds, mixing and singing and Elvis is good at finding hooks and writing lyrics and basslines. We both bring more or less the same thing to the group; song ideas. I guess we first realised our skills aligned when we played guitar together for the first time.
How would you describe your genre?
Indie pop.
How has Amsterdam coloured and influenced your music?
It’s hard to say because Amsterdam doesn’t have a footprint in the world of music in the same way that London or LA have. There’s mostly Amsterdam/Dutch garage rock bands right now so we don’t really align stylistically with others around us. I guess our minds are in LA and London, musically.
What’s been the biggest pinch-me moment of your career so far?
A few days after we released our first ever track, “Sink Into The Floor”, back in 2017, it got playlisted and garnered something like 30,000 streams overnight on Spotify. We expected it to flop and that amount was just so astronomical to us, we couldn’t believe our eyes.
Congratulations on your new EP ‘Warping Youth’ – what ties all the singles together?
Thanks! The songs are all written from the same state of mind, and have all been recorded in the same studio.
And what does the name mean?
“Warping Youth” is about disillusionment with growing up in a way, so it’s personal, but it also refers to a more generational sense of disillusionment with where the world’s going environmentally, technologically, and socially.
What’s next for Feng Suave?
We’re looking forward to writing a bunch of new songs this year. What’s next is probably some tours when Corona is over and lots of new music!