Spooky blues? Cadaver cabaret? Space shanty? 8Foot Felix defy genre, box, label, or any kind of conventional order. They burst from the speaker with the same chaotic raw and pure energy they channel into their live performance and it is an intoxicating rhythm that wiggles its way into your very bones until you can’t help but jump up from your seat and uncontrollably dance.
Soul tonic; if 8Foot Felix have a genre it’s that. Prescribed with liberal amounts of skanking.
Bones begins with this ridiculously happy little tickling of the keys. It isn’t too long before they bring in a skeletal ribcage sounding xylophone (xylobone?) to meet, match, and mix into the joyous little riff. The song is never content to stick in one place for two long, it has dancing feet and it’s constantly racing to the next big move. It progresses and evolves an impressive amount and each section shows off a rewarding amount of intricacy and attention to the layering of the sound.
The song keeps returning to the refrain laid out in the intro. It’s a pure knees up skankfest and whenever it returns it’s the audiences cue to get up and shake a tail feather. Not that they’d need much encouraging, I’m struggling to write this review as my desk vigorously shakes from the pounding of ensorcelled feet.
Both lyrically and vocally the track serves up something much deeper than a cursory glance might gleam. It’s a song about introspection and connecting with yourself, reading your bones, it’s a spiritual almost shamanic message about connection to yourself and those around you. The vocal presentation is a soft and smooth croon but regularly explodes with passion and the chanting around the 2 minute mark is as mesmeric as it is moving.
I am listening to my bones, and each and every one of them from my skull to my metatarsals are screaming out that they want to go see 8Foot Felix live and give in to the primal and feral force of their dance party witchcraft.
For now shove this on your stereo and do some damage to your living room.
Words by Matt Miles.
