Recently read a review somewhere (really can't remember, and it's not important enough to actually hunt down to link to) of a Fujiya + [why won't blogger allow the use of the ampersand?] Miyagi live show in which they were criticised for being somehow not ... soulful enough. As if they were trying to be and had fallen short. The review led me to go and listen to Transparent Things again, just to see if I had completely misunderstood them. And I'm fairly sure I haven't. Are they trying to be “soulful”?
No, I didn't think so.
Anyway, I think it raises some interesting questions about authenticity. My whole project is to try and find a way to define “selling out” without recourse to bullshit notions about authenticity. And don't Fujiya + Miyagi fit into this project? They are playing with notions of authenticity to destroy their worth. The name, completely ill-fitting to the group. The sound, unabashed Neu! The lyrics, rooted firmly in the mundane, in the everyday. And yet they move still. Isn't Cylinder a great lovesong (the repitition of “I read your starsign before my own” towards the end being utterly moving without the need for histrionics) and all the better for its restraint?
And isn't Soul intricately caught up in selling out anyway. And isn't the problem the belief that a personal authenticity allows for selling out. I believe in my own authenticity and nothing outside of me can harm that therefore I have every right to sell out.
No comments:
Post a Comment