aaamusic | On 17, Jan 2011

‘Ventriloquizzing’ is the brilliant fourth album from Brighton’s ‘Fujiya & Miyagi’.

Opening with the album’s namesake ‘Ventriloquizzing’ opens with a beautiful thirty second melody of string before moving into the recognisable indie electro inspired sound of ‘Fujiya & Miyagi’, companying the simple instrumental sound with narrative lead lyrics throughout the album. The next track ‘Sixteen Shades of Black & Blue’ continues with the same seductive vocals supplied by front man David Best, but with a more obvious electro inspired beat and riff.

‘Ventriloquizzing’ displays ‘Fujiya & Miyagi’ fantastic ability to return the original convention of indie but evolves them with current sounds, styles and influences, which is especially evident in ‘Cat Got Your Tongue’, the third track on the album. The following track ‘Taiwanese Boots’ moves the album into the realms of jazz inspired fusion again displaying ‘Fujiya & Miyagi’ creativity and versatility.

‘Pills’, ‘OK’ and ‘Minestrone’ see the album move into heightened sounds of seduction through the increasing jazz influence in the instrumental, sensual vocals of David Best and lyrics displaying the narrative of induced dreams. However ‘Split Milk’ and ‘Tinsel & Glitter’ return the album to the more recognisable obvious simplistic sound of ‘Fujiya & Miyagi’, before bringing the album to a close and back down to Earth with the hypnotic ‘Universe’.

Overall an eerily seductive album, displaying creativity alongside the induced.

Author: Khadija Pandor