Premiere: Indie Duo Feng Suave Lament The World’s Apathy On “Toking, Dozing”

Right now things are a little overwhelming. Politics have never been so divisive, extremism is on the rise and environmental crises are reaching an alarming crescendo. It’s hard not to feel helpless, but that’s no excuse for apathy, say Dutch indie-soul duo Feng Suave.

On “Toking, Dozing”, their first single in two years, producer-songwriters Daniel De Jong and Daniel Elvis Schoemaker have crafted something of a Trojan horse. On the face of it, their delicate vocals and shimmering guitars make for a calming, blissful listen, but beneath that the message is much more dramatic, shaking the listener out of their apathetic funk and into action. Wrapped in a package this appealing, it’s hard not to sit up and listen.

Speaking with Complex via email, the pair explained: “Often, lyrics are about the terrible things that happen in the world, but at the end of the day, most people only care about what affects them directly. Either way, dolphins are dying, deforestation is happening at the rate of a football field per second, there’s war and famine; the list goes on… but people are removed, they’re just toking, dozing, ’cause they can’t find a way to really care, and why would they with their own stuff going on? It’s about the conflict between caring for your own mental and physical health, whilst still being attentive to the bigger picture and caring about the wider world.”