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Love Juice: Malta’s Femmetastic Duo Set To Finally Release Their Long-Awaited Debut Album

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Photos by Stephanie Galea

It’s happening! Beloved female power duo Fuzzhoneys will finally be releasing their debut album Love Juice on the 27th of October. This long-awaited album will be presented fully during a live performance at St. Aloysius’ College in Birkirkara.

Apart from the soulful duo’s new tunes, attendees will also be able to enjoy two blistering performances by jumpy-ethereal newcomer Princess Wonderful and Errormantics, who’ll be returning to the stage in style after a years-long hiatus!

Love Juice was a whirlwind journey for Francesca Mercieca and Caroline Spiteri. Between all of their rehearsals, event planning, music video production and working on the album art, time flew by quickly for the duo. They’ve been working on it for months and cannot wait to see it released.

“It feels like It’s time to write new music with all the experiences that have been taking place through the love juice voyage itself, so it feels surreal,” Francesca told Lovin Malta.

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We couldn’t resist, and we really had to ask why Love Juice is called Love Juice and what really makes it Love Juice.

“After a rehearsal back in our garage, Fran decided on the name,” Caroline said. “Once she told me Love Juice, I instantly accepted. I do not remember what I was thinking at the time, but I just stood by it. Now with all the 11 songs, the title fits perfectly.”

The title was proposed by Francesca half jokingly at first. “Nothing is related to sex in our album. It features songs such as Femmetastic, a parody of how a woman should be depicted in the media; Venus, a torturing battle between a goddess and a knight fighting for forbidden love and Bonnie, a duet between Bonnie & Clyde speaking to each other and eventually going to heaven together,” Francesca explained.

“The vibe is love and acceptance, the lyrics from the song in Femmetastic for example mention – Mama donna is in your jeans, up your spine & through your seams is referring to mother nature and our album concept is based on self-identity, acceptance & celebration of the self. To everyone of all race, gender, ethnicity, shape or form supporting their own species, as mother nature intended.”

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“Writing is a constant process for us,” Caroline continues. “During a rehearsal, we always go through the finished tracks and leave a bit of space for jamming. The next rehearsal would involve this song as the main task for the rehearsal, to let it grow from a riff to a beat.”

“We try include to a new track in our setlists for at least every two live performances,” she said. “The album setlist was Fran’s initial formation. I simply agreed to it and confirmed it after we played it through twice. It simply worked and it sounds great.”

Fuzzhoneys’ songs are written in separate time frames, giving the duo enough times to test them out.

“The plan is to start from the dynamics between drums and guitar, and depending on what life brings us to question what inspires us with at the time; we unfold a topic,” Francesca explained. “The structure depends on the song, some were easy some were impossible, but we made it and it’s so beautiful.”

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“The plan was conceived after we had written Period, Femmetastic, Glitter, Circulation and Amy… the rest of the album followed,” Francesca told Lovin Malta. “I needed to reason the whole theme with Caroline and we met up out of the garage and outlined our messages in dimensions. We’re still in the second dimension, being our first album after two EPs. I can only say this is just the start, so get on the train as you’re in for a lovely trip.”

Lyrically, this album follows the mood of the music itself. It starts off with well-known Fuzzhoneys tracks such as Period and Femmetastic. It moves on to Manage and later on Venus and Candy.

The sound is a mixture of 90s, 80s and 60s with a bit of attitude, self-expression and identity mashed up with angst and gothic fiction.

Love Juice as a main theme groups the concept of equality with the confidence of being who you want to be and who you are. Each song depicts a character with a message, mostly about the way one presents themselves,” Caroline said. The lyrics Francesca drives are character and plot driven.

“It’s a protest inspired from other strong mediums of photos, film, literature & icons,” Francesca explained.

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“Writing it in total tool about two years, but only because we built up the set list for the album along the way. We grouped seven of these in a span of one year and recorded the first batch in March 2017,” Caroline told Lovin Malta.

“We then decided to write another four tracks specifically to create an 11 track album. We wrote these in four months and recorded them in November 2017. Mastering was done by the end of the same year when we also released our Art Femmetastic Zine CD as a teaser to Love Juice. And here we are. These last four months were spent planning the actual event. It gives me great satisfaction that we are finally having our own album to share.”

“What keeps me pushing is the incredible experience this has been growing with me as I grow myself,” Francesca told Lovin Malta. “With the development of us working side by side to make this band the best it can be with our lives in the background. I really cherish this musical relationship in my life and the beautiful people it has lead me to having worked with, especially Caroline, which got the ship sailing from the start.”

To end the album cycle in style, Fuzzhoneys will also be going on a 10-day tour across the UK to promote this album two weeks after its release.

Don’t forget to check out Fuzzhoneys’ long-awaited event. You will be asked to pay a €15 fee to get in, however we strongly suggest paying the €18 and get the cool-ass album in CD form instead. It will be totally worth it.

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READ NEXT: WATCH: Maltese Band Releases New Music Video All About Periods

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