Music video: FEMM go virtual with "Plastic" and release an EP full of demos

FEMM came back with a new music video and a new EP earlier this month. Now, I'mma get into this EP in a minute. But for now, let's enjoy the music video and the song, which is all types of teas that I should have gotten from Perfume. But, okay. Whatever.

"Plastic" is literally a bass heavy EDM version of Aqua's "Barbie girl" and I ain't mad at that.

FEMM released their third EP Dollhouse on August 4th, but something is amiss. When the tracklist to the album was released, this is what it was...

1. Untitled 01 (Work in progress)
2. Dead of night (Work in progress)
3. Up, up & away
4. Plastic
5. Untitled 02 (Work in progress)
6. Shibuya Ex Horologium (Adirector will write)
7. Boss (Work in progress)

I just assumed that this tracklist was tentative and that we'd get a final tracklist void of 'Work in progress' and with actual track names for tracks 1 and 5. But the EP out now and it has THIS SAME tracklist, and the EP indeed sounds like it's still in the progress of being finished. So, Dollhouse is basically an EP of demos.

FEMM's whole vibe isn't miles away from Perfume's, in the sense that we don't really get to see behind the act. Everything that we see is carefully considered and orchestrated. The focus is THE act. Not the girls behind the act. Their looks are meticulous. Everything is put together. Releasing an EP of unfinished songs goes against this completely as you'd figure FEMM's team wouldn't want us to hear any music from them unless it's complete and finalised.

It's an interesting concept, especially in this digital age of music where many albums live online before they're released physically. The whole fiasco with Kanye's The life of Pablo album started to spark a debate of when exactly is an album is deemed finished, if new versions of songs and reworkings of the album continue to surface. It can be messy. Especially if you're charging people to cop your music and then putting out revised versions of it, and I don't just mean a remix. Streaming services shouldn't be treated like personal desktops.

FEMM are working on a new studio album and at least one of the songs from this EP ("Shibuya Ex Horologium") is confirmed to be appearing on it. As for all of the works in progress, there's a chance that the final versions of this songs may end up appearing on it too. But even if this is the case, releasing them prior to completion is still a strange thing to do. Especially for a market where albums end up dropping with half of the material already out as singles and commercial tie-ins anyway. I hope at the every least that FEMM's team are using this release as a way to get feedback, so that they can take the best of it all and funnel it how they release things going forward and what songs should and shouldn't make the cut for their next album. They are also putting themselves up for getting it in the neck, if fans get attached to any of the works in progress and for whatever reason, they don't make the cut. Because, as we all know. Shit changes and people's minds change.