UK foursome gets wordy, stays objective
Brighton’s Fujiya & Miyagi glorified everyday objects on their singles collection, 2006’s Transparent Things. Lightbulbs shows the same attention to sonic detail as its predecessor, but the four also love words as much as objects. Lead single “Knickerbocker,” as well as “Pickpocket” and “Pterodactyls,” glide as effortlessly off the tongue as their Krautrock-influenced, minimal pop. Some of these words make for jarring combinations, like when they rhyme “Knickerbocker,” a type of ice cream sundae, with “Lena Zavaroni,” a child star who died of anorexia. When words fail him, singer David Best makes up his own, unfurling his tongue over long r’s and wordlessly scatting over smooth instrumental passages. These touches loosen up their tightly-wound constructions. “Dishwasher” and “Lightbulbs” both utilize the warm minimalism of, say, Feist, but they also imply her yearning for a domestic, well-ordered life. “If today is the same as yesterday, tomorrow will be the same as today,” sings Best. But they don’t think it’s such a bad thing. In fact, the guys in Fujiya & Miyagi would probably be pretty boring, if they weren’t in Fujiya & Miyagi.