FEATURE: FVNERAL - chosen family - ep
Rapidly rising indie darlings FVNERAL have released the chosen family EP with the focus on single ‘hate u’.
The 5-track EP contains previously released singles ‘landline’,‘rosie’, and ‘friendly fire’ which was released to time with Trans Awareness Week.
Described by Ash McGregor as a “queer supergroup”,
FVNERAL is a collaboration between trans non-binary songwriter/producer Tay Blunt - whose discography (Stand Atlantic, Birds of Tokyo) has clocked more than 15 million streams - alongside Madeleine Powers (aka RAGEFLOWER) and Ben Siva (aka jnr.), whose respective solo projects have garnered significant critical acclaim in their own right.
"This EP is a collection of songs that each, in their own way, think about what it means to navigate the world as a trans and queer person at the current moment. Clearly, it's no secret that our community is facing a rising tide of violence and exclusion, both here and all around the world. In many ways, these songs are an effort to show that the joy, safety and comfort of finding your chosen family, can provide us with a true sense of resistance to this violence and exclusion, and maybe even show us a way towards something better."
Tay on more of the motivation behind the EP.
There are a few songs on this EP - 'friendly fire', 'rosie' and 'landline' - that feature artists who we've grown to consider part of our own chosen family, in an artistic sense and a personal one. Above all else, this EP is our way of acknowledging and sincerely thanking the queer elders - specifically trans women and transfemme people of colour - who fought for us to be able to be out and proud and visible.
”‘hate u’ is about recognising you’re on the receiving-end of coercive control and an abuse of power, and working to find a way out of it.
It's about coming to the strangely comforting and liberating realisation that I will never be able to hate my abuser as much as they hate themself.
It’s also about applying this philosophy to the world more broadly; as a trans or queer person it can be so easy to fixate on feeling hated by specific people or ideologies, particularly as fascism and far-right politics takes hold both here and abroad, but I find it helpful to step back and recognise that anyone who expresses transphobia or homophobia is only doing so because trans and queer people who are self-assured enough to be out and proud, hold a mirror up to these people, and shine a light on the parts of themself that they’re far too afraid to ever acknowledge or embrace."
chosen family - EP the latest release from FVNERAL is available to stream now.