Crack

Crack is not alone in saying that villages near Peterborough aren’t exactly the epicentre of electro-pop music, yet it has heralded one of the most promising bands in the genre for some time.

In the picturesque village of Kings Cliff, Northamptonshire, Fenech-Soler have been ferreting away on a laptop in a makeshift studio in their parent’s house putting the finishing touches to their self-titled debut album.

Fenech-Soler’s music is much more accessible than their name and if the likes of Klaxons, Erol Alkan or Friendly Fires are your cup of tea, then it’s a safe to assume you’ll be a fan of these guys too. Comprising of brothers Ross and Ben Duffy, Daniel Soler and Andrew Lindsay their craft is about to herald some fruitful exposure.

Having come off the end of festival season, the band played a handpicked selection of smaller European festivals, as well as some bigger British festivals including V Festival, Secret Garden Party and, rather unexpectedly, Creamfields. Not surprisingly, Fenech-Soler are incredibly busy at the moment with a hectic back to back 30 day tour, a video to make and the impending release of their album at the end of the month. Crack got the chance to have a chat with lead vocalist Ben in the wake of a few months that should see the band elevated to higher peaks.

Ben explains: “The album has been a long time in the making, but we finally got ourselves into a position where everything just came together. There was definitely a real DIY approach to putting the album together and a real sense of achievement now that it is finished!”

And you can tell why. Fenech-Soler have written and produced all of their own music and have garnered fans that include Radio One DJs Zane Lowe and Annie Mac. Ben explains: “Hugh Stevens was the first person to play the track on the radio, we just sent him a demo and he played it on his show.”

So even though the album took a while in the making, the band had a clear idea of what sound they were going for. “We knew what kind of record we wanted to make, there were lots of odd obstacles that got in the way but ultimately it was just really good fun.”

It’s relatively easy to spot the bands influences such as Two Door Cinema Club and Foals, but they admit to not really feeling like they belong to any particular scene, mainly, as Ben reinforces, there isn’t a huge music scene in Northamptonshire!

“We were constantly slogging up the A1 to east London to be heard by industry people, but in a way we stayed on the outside of the London scene.” Ben tells Crack that instead of feeding off what other bands are doing at the moment, the band listened to a lot of late 70s soul music. “We just locked on to a lot of that music, just incredibly good, well written pop music.”

It is easy to feel the guys sense of anticipation when it comes to the reception of their music, they are obviously proud of what they have created. Ben explains: “You spend so long in quite a contained room putting together the record and you go through stages of thinking is it shit? Is it good?” It’s safe to say that the album is definitely not shit. There is a lot of synth, some brilliant melodies accompanied by some really infectious vocals. It’s the epitome of 21st Century pop music.



Words: Lucinda Bounsell

Tune: Lies

http://www.myspace.com/fenechsoler

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