Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Being able to express yourself beyond society’s insistence and self-imposed boundaries is one way to pick an earnest fight with those whose opinions are constrained by their own inadequacies. Whether it’s an artist, a sportsperson, an academic or even a city’s own self worth against the limitations forced upon it, expressing yourself is the ultimate put down to that presumed self-hating society.
Like Liverpool, New York is one of a kind in its own country, unique, full of character and voice that rankles underneath the skin of those who wish to see it tamed and squeezed; look closer and the Village is a microcosm of that industrious candour, of gregariousness and flamboyant art and in The Veldt, that passion to stride beyond what people expect is intelligently placed before the crowds and sets a standard that New York follows with delight.
Music may sweep down and take your heart but The Shocking Fuzz of Your Electric Fur will rip open any pre-conceptions that you allow to fester with unruly resolve and burn it in front of you, for to assume is to be allowed to wallow in the negative, when music, art, should be verging on the personal sanctity and be of the moment.
The five track strong E.P. is one that almost psyches the listener out, it shakes reason with impunity and for that it is a must hear, it alludes to a strand of genres but is it its entirety, like The Village, a true and blessed one off that needs celebrating and focusing upon.
Roots are important; it is knowing where you come from that make the future tangible, without understanding your history you may as well be consigned to it.
In the songs Sanctified, In A Quiet Room, Token, One Day Out Of Life and And It’s You, the feedback of life stomps all over the inclined perception, its forces the ears to reject the compulsory and strike a progressive path onwards. Beautifully balanced at all times, expansive, clinical but never strained or artificial, The Shocking Fuzz of Your Electric Fur is the Chavis brothers at their most intriguing and one that reiterates the point of being your own boss, the master of your own destiny; it is after all what New York and especially the Village, is all about.
Ian D. Hall