Fievel are a Melbourne duo who make addictive electronic pop songs, using only a selection of samplers and live drums. They have very kindly made their new Ep, Go West, available to download and it's a beauty. Clearly influenced by the usual suspects from the Warp roster but also, to my ear anyway, acts like Cold Cave and Matthew Dear. So you get all the beats and squelches you would expect from those references but there is also something more plaintive and heartfelt here that you do not normally find in electronic music. A lot of this has to do with singer Tristan's voice, which whether falsetto-inflected on Tonight or strained almost to supplication on the sublime I Used To, carries something cathartic in it, and with the live drums, humanizes the songs. That is not to say that the instrumental tracks are robotic or sterile though, Swap Shop is a downtempo gem and Tumbleweed closes the Ep like the dreams of an exhausted child.
With releases from Love Connection, Rat vs. Possum and the Tantrums all due by the end of the year, it's an exciting time for esoteric sections of the Melbourne scene, but they're going to have to work hard to better this left-field sleeper. All in all, Fievel have quietly produced this year's Delays.
Download here and catch Fievel at Fermez la Bouche on the 17th October.
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