5 Questions With: Feir

Hot off the release of their latest EP, the band stops by to chat

Dec 01, 2022

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On to the music:

Listen to Feir’s EP, and you’d be excused for thinking it was 90s Britpop. You’d also be 30 years and several thousand miles off.

Feir is Gary Leo, Adrian Alphonsus, and Macpherson Simon, and the trio hail from Kuala Lampur.

Readers may recall that I reviewed their EP earlier this year, describing the record as a little bit happy, a little bit sad, and a lot of awesome. I also included the “Postcards And Regards” track in my Top 25 Singles of 2022 article last month.

So it was great to connect with Gary from the band and hear a little more about the people behind the sound.

Gary and Adrian are both veterans of the local scene and first crossed paths in 2007 when Adrian invited Gary to join his band, Telebury.

Flash forward to 2019: The pair have swapped spots, and Macpherson has joined them on bass, rounding out the trio. Feir was formed primarily to be an outlet for a backlog of music Gary had building up. The band went into the studio with eight songs for a double EP; the second EP will be in production next year.

Listening to the band, I started drawing my own list of groups whose influence I could hear (Death Cab, Ride, etc.). A lot of that was confirmed by some of the bands mentioned below, but Feir put their own unique spin on dream pop. In fact, they refer to it as “Happy & Sad Pop.”

See for yourself:

There aren't many bands playing this style of music in Kuala Lampur (or even any shoegaze/ dream pop), with most steering more toward alternative, metal hardcore, and pop.

Still, the band hopes to put together some live shows now that the country has reopened. According to Gary, all three still have their day jobs, making for a “very busy 2Q this year.”

With music this good, they should be staying busy for quite a while.

Click the record to hear the EP

**Click the record to hear more from the band & buy their music.**

5 Questions:

1. Describe your style in one sentence.

a. Macpherson: Swivel Hips

b. Gary & Adrian: Happy Sad Pop

2. What music was on in your house growing up?

a. Macpherson: Deep Purple, Elton John, Earth Wind, and Fire

b. Adrian: 70’s Rock and New Wave

c. Gary: The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Cliff Richard, REM, Gin Blossoms, to name a few (and all the 80’s rock and pop bands).

3. What are you listening to these days?

a. Macpherson: The Beths, Kendrick Lamar, Phoebe Bridges, Superheaven, Husker Du

b. Adrian: Indie Shoegaze dreampop & Jazz

c. Gary: Iron and Wine, Bon Iver, Night Traveler, Slowdive, Fleet Foxes

4. What are your 5 Desert Island Discs?

a. Macpherson: Thirteen by Teenage Fanclub, Heaven or Las Vegas by Cocteau Twins, Mechanical Animas by Marilyn Manson, Welcome to Sky Valley by Kyuss, Disintegration by The Cure

b. Adrian: The Best of by Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin by Led Zeppelin, Hysteria by Def Leppard, Wish by The Cure, Beginnings by west Montgomery

c. Gary: Give Up by Postal Service, Revolver by The Beatles, Recovering the Satellites by Counting Crows, Seldom Seen Kid by Elbow, Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys

5. If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?

a. Macpherson: Marilyn Manson

b. Adrian: Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins

c. Gary: Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson

To hear more of the band and grab a copy of their EP, head over to Bandcamp.

You can also connect with them on Spotify | YouTube | Instagram | Amazon

Available for iOS and Android

Other reviews:

Communicant- Sun Goes Out

I tend to avoid anything wearing a psychedelia or psych-rock label. In my experience they often rely on far too much sitar to paper over otherwise boring music. I prefer my music to not meander, and that’s not easy an easy sound to make when you’re tripping.

Nevertheless, I decided to give this a shot—mainly on the visual appeal of the cover to be honest. or more specifically the font used on the titling. What can I say?

Dylan Gardner is the man behind the project. A self described life-long crate digger, he originally made more glittery but anodyne music. He eventually signed to Warner, only to find himself creatively throttled. Turns out labels don’t like boring music, either.

Free from his contract, Communicant is the vehicle for Gardner to make the music he’s always wanted to. In more than one interview, he cited “Revolver” as an album he wanted to make his own version of. Spinning the record, you hear the Fab Four’s influence everywhere. But I also hear hints of bands like Tame Impala, and dash of power pop. The first half definitely has it’s flag panted in psych-rock territory. The back side has a lusher texture and a “still partying at sunrise” vibe.

Bottom Line: There’s a lot here. None of it is boring.

Dot Dash-Madman in The Rain

Fantastic pop from Washington D.C. by way of whatever your favorite British post-punk/new wave of the 70s/80s is.

I hear some mid-career Wire (it’s not lost on me that the band shares it’s name with a Wire track), The Jam, and more. And you gotta love anytime a band can work in a reference to Candy-O. The closer “Dead Gone” could just as easily been made by The Housemartins.

On the track “Space Junk, Satellites” front man Terry Banks sings It’s no different/but it’s not the same. He’s right. Madman In The Rain is standing on a LOT of shoulders here, but they’ve taken that gumbo and made a sound all their own. Highly recommend.

What I heard:

The list of albums I listened to over the last week or so. There are occasional repeats, of course. There is rarely any rhyme or reason to it.

Wussy-Funeral Dress
Throwing Muses-Sun Racket
New order-Movement
Patrick Cowley- Malebox
Kylie Minogue-X
Night Shop-Forever Night
Blondie-Parallel Lines
November Sun-Field Day
Working Men’s Club- Fear Fear
That Dog- Retreat From The Sun
The War On Drugs- Lost In The Dream
Warren Zevon- Sentimental Hygiene
The Replacements- All For Nothing/Nothing For All
Fleetwood Mac- Mirage
X-Los Angeles
Bombay Bicycle Club- Everything Else Has Gone Wrong
Expert timing-Selective Hearing
Expert timing-Stargazing
Fishbone- the Reality Of My Surroundings
Japanese Breakfast-Psychopomp
Talking Heads-More Songs About Buildings And Food
LCD Soundsystem-S/T
Modest Mouse- We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank

What have you been listening to?

B-Sides

King Tubby Recordings From 1975

Fantastic live dance recordings from the dub legend himself. The audio quality is a little rough. It doesn’t detract from this a bit.

A Look Back at Living Colour’s “Vivid” Album

Underserving of the one-hit wonder weight around their neck, Living Colour were far more trailblazing than many people realize. I have a love/hate relationship with Pitchfork, but once in a while, they absolutely nail it.

This is one of those times.

Decked out in a matching orange tank top and spandex Body Glove shorts, singer Corey Glover looked less like the typical rock frontman than a guy on his way to the gym, and partway through the band’s electrifying rendition of Vivid’s lead-off crusher, “Cult of Personality,” he decided to get his steps in. After casually strolling off the stage during the second verse, Glover made a beeline for the audience and began running up and down the aisles with his mic like a Day-Glo Donahue, before returning to the stage for some synchronized dance moves and cyclonic hair-whipping as the song raced toward its furious double-time finale.

In the middle of a Russian swampland, not far from the city of St Petersburg, is a rectangular iron gate. Beyond its rusted bars is a collection of radio towers, abandoned buildings and power lines bordered by a dry-stone wall. This sinister location is the focus of a mystery which stretches back to the height of the Cold War.
It is thought to be the headquarters of a radio station, “MDZhB”, that no-one has ever claimed to run. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, for the last three-and-a-half decades, it’s been broadcasting a dull, monotonous tone. Every few seconds it’s joined by a second sound, like some ghostly ship sounding its foghorn. Then the drone continues.
Once or twice a week, a man or woman will read out some words in Russian, such as “dinghy” or “farming specialist”. And that’s it. Anyone, anywhere in the world can listen in, simply by tuning a radio to the frequency 4625 kHz.
It’s so enigmatic, it’s as if it was designed with conspiracy theorists in mind…