The King Of Luxembourg - Sweets Of Japan

  by Laura Branch

published: 2 / 9 / 2003

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Review

A nice, if a little idiosyncratic offering on claret-coloured vinyl from the Felicite singles club – an ace new label who’ve been keeping me awake at night and plaguing my mind with guilty thoughts throughout the day. In short, they gain my seal of approval (I bet they’re thrilled). The King of Luxembourg, known by day as Simon Fisher Turner, released records on the label always prefixed with the word “legendary” – él – when I was a nipper. Which helps explain why when I first listened to this record and lazy references raced through my tiny mind I thought, “Mmm, grown up Siesta label”. Consequently, 'Sweets of Japan' is my favoured track with rich guitars, come-to-bed vocals and an all-round dreamily hypnotic sound. He half wails, half whispers, “we bring you subtlety…dusted and powdered”, an image which makes me salivate and brings to mind dainty caster-sugared chocolates and that fantastical sweet shop in 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.' I hope that this song really is about such delightful confectionary treats for the simple reason that I like sweets and more people should sing about them. It’s probably nothing to do with sweets. Or Japan. But let me have my dream. After 'Sweets of Japan', 'Woolworth Guitar' is, to me, new to the works of SFT, unexpected and mildly amusing – a bit like the Chuckle Brothers. We’re slapped around the face with fuzzy rock-cheese guitars and whilst your cheeks are still tingling, The King (as he shall be referred to from now on) tries to be as menacing as possible when he mock snarls, “I wanna Woolworth’s guitar”. Imagine a kitten trying to pass itself off as a tyrannosaurus rex on a frenzied search for cheap kitsch plastic. I am rather taken with this and all the other Felicite singles I’ve heard, but their real talent, I believe, lies in The Happy Couple – who run the label and also make songs which circle the fringes of indie pop perfection. They also have cool haircuts. One to watch, as I’d say if I was writing for a Sunday newspaper supplement…

Track Listing:-

1 Sweets Of Japan
2 Woolworth Guitar