Described by the band as a “passport to heartbreak and holiday fatigue”, Navalgazing is a band’s meditation on getting lost and finding yourself (or vice versa).
Written by Joseph Lu Edited by Zim Ahmadi
After a nine-year intermission, Malaysian indie-pop band Ferns returns with the idyllic indie EP, Navalgazing, on 29 August, with their lead single 'Auf Wiedersehen' reminding you all your 2020 holiday plans went down the drain. The last great nostalgic experience by the band was the twee sleeper hit Fairweather Friends back in 2011.
Surprisingly good and reliable under any weather. Some might say everything on the EP can be summarized by its album cover. While some see their dream island vacation, others might see a blue monotony that stretches as far as the ocean. It is this interplay between utopia and dystopia that we think would permeate throughout the entire four-track runtime.
You can get a taste of this irony in the lead single Auf Wiedersehen - which if you’ve forgotten your IGCSE German, translates roughly to “until we meet again”. In a Zen-like fashion, lead singer Warren Chan urges you to find peace in times of adversity saying “a little touch of misery, will set you free”. And the lyrics hit a little harder when you find out that it was conceived and recorded and before the pandemic, evoking a sense of disconnection that goes beyond just social distancing.
It’s not all loneliness and heartbreak. The intimate vocal delivery, the driving rhythms, and the intricate melodic exchange between the guitars and keyboards remain a mainstay for the band and will tickle the hearts of any long-time fan. But with a lead single completely drenched in reverb, we see the band flirting with a newer, shoegazier direction, honing in the idea that perhaps everything is just a dream. It’s appropriate then that Navalgazing makes you feel happy when you’re sad, and sad when you’re happy; Everything is a matter of perspective, or as the band puts it “Come what may, so they say”.
Navalgazing will be out on 29th August. The EP will be available in-store at specific participating outlets (Teenage Head Record, Sputnik Rekordz and Trans Music Express) as a part of Record Store Day Drops 2020.
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