Songs Worth Your Time: FVNERAL

Hi! We’re about to drop a new EP called ‘chosen family’, which is a collection of songs that explore what it’s like to navigate the world as a trans and queer person right now. It’s no secret that trans and queer folks are facing a rising tide of violence and exclusion around the world, and this EP is an attempt to show that the joy, safety and comfort of finding your chosen family can provide us with meaningful resistance to all of that. A few of the songs are collaborations with artists who we’ve grown to consider part of our own chosen family, both artistically and personally. More than anything, this EP is our way of acknowledging and 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. 

ENOLA - Time Will Make You Change

I feel like it’s difficult to describe ENOLA’s music because it really does leave me completely lost for words, but I’m truly envious if this is the first you’re hearing of them because it’s such a treat to hear their songs for the first time. I genuinely don’t understand how ENOLA isn’t the biggest artist in the world, but I’m sure that won’t be the case for much longer.

Hey, Nothing - Maine

I got so mad the first time I heard this song, because I felt like it was the better version of the song I’ve been trying to write for my entire life. This one is just the tip of the iceberg - I don’t think they’ve ever released anything that wouldn’t be the best song I’d ever written.

Khatumu - Hunting Days

Khat is probably my favourite songwriter I’ve ever had the privilege to write with. She manages to paint incredibly vivid pictures in a couple lines and before you even know you’ve been stabbed, you can feel the knife twisting in your stomach. To be honest, without this song ‘hate u’ might not even exist - after hearing ‘Hunting Days’ and quickly becoming obsessed with it, I cold emailed Khat asking if she wanted to do a session last year while I was in LA, and that’s where we ended up with the bones of what became ‘hate u’.

Francis of Delirium - First Touch

I make a playlist of my fave songs each month, and this was on the same playlist that ‘Hunting Days’ was on. It’s kind of the perfect driving song, and one of those songs that you have to immediately pull the car over to find out what it is. Francis of Delirium is definitely on our list of dream artists to support, so if anyone knows someone, you know what to do…

Womb - Only You

Once or twice a year I come across a song that sparks a full-blown identity crisis, by making me think that I need to completely reorient my life around making exactly that kind of music. This was last year’s. Also, I know you couldn’t keep a straight face and tell me that a Womb x FVNERAL tour wouldn’t be the perfect match.

Yuele - Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl

Obviously, Broken Social Scene’s original is one of the best songs ever written, but this cover genuinely changed my brain. It might be the fact that it was recorded for what is - in both my opinion and the opinion of 99.99% of trans people - the best film ever made, but it’s hard to argue with how good it is. This is also a shameless attempt at getting Jane Schoenbrun to notice us, because this whole EP is a collection of songs we think would be perfect in their next film!

MUNA - Big Stick

Hands down the best song of the year. It’s honestly pretty impossible to pick a single song from their new album but if a song could save the world, this one really might be it.

Against Me! - True Trans Soul Rebel

I used to hate this song so much, but that’s only because it (and the whole album it’s from, ‘Transgender Dysphoria Blues’) was one of THE moments where the trans mirror was held up to me in a way I couldn’t deny. When I reached a point of self-acceptance, this song was there to greet me like an old friend.

jasmine.4.t - Elephant

I honestly love every single thing Jasmine does, but this song makes me cry every single time I hear it. There’s a level of sweetness in this song that I can’t really describe, but hearing it makes me feel the same way it feels to be truly seen and loved by your chosen family.

Tasman Keith - Mission Famous

Tasman Keith is a name the whole world is going to know pretty soon. This is from his first EP back in 2018, but it shows that even from the beginning, there’s such a generosity in Tasman’s storytelling and a delivery that nods to all the best bits of early André, while still being totally singular.