Reinventing the ’80s
Felix Da Housecat’s fourth studio album, He Was King, features 12 tracks of catchy zaniness. Felix has been constantly reinventing himself for over two decades, transforming in name and style, and this album is no exception.
He Was King starts off with a track titled “We All Wanna Be Prince,” which lays the groundwork for the album. The song contains a steady synth beat that gives way to a poppy riff and vocals with a Prince-gone-electro feel in tribute to The Artist Formally Known As. The album continues with “Kickdrum,” fade-in vocals repeating “A big fat kick drum makes me want to get some” accompanied by a drum that turns into a reverberating bassline. While the song is catchy and sticks out amongst the rest of the album, it becomes repetitive and is thankfully rather short.
On “LA Rivers,” hard synth lines are accompanied by beguiling static vocoding, all building up to a dancey crescendo. Throughout He Was King, Felix also continues to let his sense of humor shine through in his satirical lyrics. Don’t expect these songs to get much radio play, but they will put smiles on faces when people hear them.
This album has a much poppier feel then Felix Da Housecat fans are used to, but that isn’t problematic. Borrowing certain elements from 1980s electro and applying them to modern synth play allows Felix to create an original product with his own definitive style.
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