The Queer Cabaret ensemble return with to offer trigger warnings and self-proclaimed outrageousness.
Berlin act Feline and Strange have recorded some five albums without the world noticing, and are now back with their sixth, Trigger Warning, which attests to some sort of bloody-minded determination I guess. Given the album title, the lead single Inappropriate and the lyric “You’ve got the right to be offended as I have got that to offend”, you might understandably think that the band are positing themselves at the forefront of free speech battles, fighting the good fight against cancel culture, no-platforming and similar shutdowns of opinion, but I fear that their support of the right to offend might be very subjective and that the band would be the first to be outraged by anyone who might argue with their own deeply-held beliefs. Who knows?
Anyway, Feline and Strange seem to be trying damned hard to be edgy, eccentric and – let’s not beat around the bush here – The Dresden Dolls. Of which one might have already been more than enough, frankly. Apparently, the Trigger Warning production involved “several panic attacks, triggered by the performances to be heard on the album, nervous breakdowns, phases of depression”, and I can certainly relate to that having listened to two tracks so far.
Inappropriate feels very hard work, quite frankly, and is only going to seem shocking or revolutionary to the most conservative of people. I”m always suspicious of people who trumpet their own outrageousness – it always feels very forced and contrived.
But don’t take my word for it. Watch the video below.
