MUMBAI: Artist/producer and multi-instrumentalist French Kiwi Juice (FKJ) has released his accomplished new album ‘V I N C E N T’. ‘V I N C E N T’ is FKJ’s second album and signals a new dawn, not just as a go-to producer and remixer for artists like PinkPantheress and Moses Sumney but as an artist in his own right, continuously selling out headline tours across the globe with his acclaimed ‘one-man-band’ live shows, and having a billion plus streams across all platforms for his music. Fans can stream ‘V I N C E N T’ here: fkj.ffm.to/vincent
A virtuosic multi-instrumentalist and producer, FKJ’s songs blur jazz, soul, folk, rock and experimental beats with an intricacy and intimacy that puts him on a par with the likes of Tom Misch, James Blake and Jacob Collier. He recently celebrated the launch of his new album with an immersive, sensory listening session in Dolby Atmos, and a panel discussion where guests from the music industry discussed the impact of sound on wellbeing and the body’s physical reaction to music – in keeping with FKJ’s own experience when creating the album.
The concept for ‘V I N C E N T’ came about during a solo trip to Los Angeles before 2020. “I just stayed in this house totally on my own, turned my phone off and had some time away from everything to figure out what I wanted to do.” He realised he wanted to tap into the freedom of being a teenager: “back then, I was making music strictly for playfulness, without overthinking it,” he says.
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Back in his home studio in the Philippines, with no wifi and an impending global lockdown, FKJ was quite literally cut off from the world, able to explore music’s endless possibilities. “Sometimes I would get into it for the whole night and go to bed when the sun came up.” Out of this freedom comes an expressionistic, touching album that’s impossible to pin down. There’s no more hiding behind a branch of leaves, as he did on the cover of his 2017 debut: ‘V I N C E N T’ marks FKJ out as a crucial new voice. He’s redefining chillout music with his bursts of late-night jazz sax and piano, coupled with his wood-cabin whispery vocals, recalling Bon Iver’s early work, and those Santana-styled guitar flourishes.
‘V I N C E N T”s opening and closing songs underline the sentiment of the new album: the future-jazz of “Way Out” (a playful mini soundtrack in one; a dainty piano motif underscored by a skittering trap beat and serene strings) and the lullaby-styled “Stay A Child”. “I wanted to get back some of that lost innocence of making music purely for pleasure,” he says.
Much of ‘V I N C E N T’ is wilfully romantic, sometimes super sexy, and often with its head in the clouds, as on tracks like “Us”, a dreamy ode to his wife June, or “IHM”, which has a 90s hip-hop flavour slowed right down to lights-out tempo. Not entirely a solo record, ((( O ))) appears on “Brass Necklace” – which has the soft power of The Internet and Stevie Wonder’s keys. “Greener” featuring guitar legend Santana is a sultry neo-soul jam that in many ways exemplifies who FKJ is, an innovative artist-producer with one foot in the new world and one in the old, making soulful, limitless music for a restless, genre-fluid generation.
It’s no wonder that lead single “A Moment of Mystery”, featuring Toro y Moi, has a spacey vibe: while recording in San Francisco together, FKJ, Toro and his keyboard player Tony took some of what Tony called “holy water” – “we shared this bottle and took a bit of a trip,” laughs FKJ. The result is a gentle electronic ode to long-term love that could rival Tame Impala for melodic progginess, and has garnered much support in Southeast Asia with placements across Spotify’s coveted New Music Friday playlists (including Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, andThailand), Apple Music’s New In Electronic playlist across the region, and a cover feature on YouTube Music’s Blogged 50.
Little Dragon’s Yukimi Nagano vocal, meanwhile, laces its way through the stunning “Can’t Stop”, and there is a call back to FKJ’s dancier beginnings with “Let’s Live”, a galvanising techno-pop number that blends piano, handclaps and soulful vocals to dazzling effect. Each of FKJ’s songs glistens, lambently, with a myriad of ideas but it never sounds overblown or too dizzying.
‘V I N C E N T’ is a marvel – and testament to the magic that can happen when you dig deep. “This was a challenging record,” he says. “I’m a perfectionist and it’s hard to shake that off. But once I did, and I let the music take over, I felt totally free.”
‘V I N C E N T’ Tracklisting:
1. Way Out
2. Greener ft. Santana
3. Us
4. The Mission
5. Can’t Stop ft. Little Dragon
6. IHM
7. Brass Necklace ft. ((( O )))
8. Different Masks For Different Days
9. A Moment Of Mystery ft. Toro y Moi
10. Let’s Live
11. Once Again I Close My Eyes
12. New Life
13. Does It Exist
14. Stay A Child
