Notes on "Scrutiny" by Fashion Club

 

"In arts communities, and in culture more broadly, you’re confronted with a lot of people who are performing morality surrounding social issues instead of actually caring. To be somebody that’s black in a predominantly white industry like indie rock, you realize how what people project about who they are and how they treat other people is so at odds with how they actually feel." -Pascal Stevenson

Pascal Stevenson, bassist for the band Moaning, began exploring the foundations of what became her solo debut record (under the moniker Fashion Club) Scrutiny during a 2018 European tour with the band, composing rough instrumental versions of many of the songs that are featured on the final album on her laptop during downtime on the tour van. After getting sober in 2019, she began to revisit these rough instrumental drafts, composing haunting and shockingly truthful lyrics to fit the beautiful darkness of the music, stepping into the spotlight as a solo artist for the first time while simultaneously beginning another, more personal transition as she publicly revealed her identity as a trans woman. But she’s gained a lot of confidence in the process of writing and recording Scrutiny, and recent live performances are helping her to continue to evolve as an artist and as an individual. Based on everything I've heard thus far, Fashion Club has already become one of my favorite new artists.

PANTOMIME

What a breath of fresh air. Wild, aggressive synth melody that feels like Goblin. “Can you justify your cruelty to your world? Are you terrified of your own words?” The music squeals. It writhes. I’m in love. There’s a darkness lurking throughout this song, a sinister undercurrent, seeping in and slowly drowning out the light. This was the first song Pascal wrote for the album, and what a mission statement. The opening line “how deeply your morality sways when confronted by your day-to-day” is damning. The pantomime is social performance, the faces we wear in public, which often mask something darker. To quote Pascal: "A lot of people advocate for marginalized groups in their public lives, but then don’t make any effort to look inward and address their own harmful behavior in their private lives."

Pascal, a black trans woman, sees all too well how often people may present themselves as allies of marginalized groups in public circles, but privately they do nothing to back up their own rhetoric. They present themselves as partners on social media, but they refuse to reckon with their own problematic behavior. It’s all a pantomime, a performance to earn likes and subscribers, completely disconnected from the reality the people they claim to be supporting suffer through each and every day. This song is holding up a mirror to the listener. Who are you really? 

FAILURE

These songs are flowing like troubling electronic dreams. Disconcerting aural elements drenched in echoes and distortion and fuzz. Dark thoughts and secret fears broadcasting from a soul laid bare, challenging the listener to understand their own failings, and to correct their mistakes if they can only find the nerve.  “Convince myself this is the best I can do.” Sonic nihilism, hating the face in the mirror. Self-loathing. All that good stuff. 

DEPENDENCY

Shredding guitars (?) rolling back and forth in a cavernous space like waves of psychic pain, distorted and compressed. Wailing like electronic banshees in a shattered cathedral. “Weaponize your brain. What good is a weapon if it drives you insane?” “Try to engage, you can fake salvation all day.” This is what I’m looking for. Waves of static. Waves of emotion. Fade out. Pascal got sober in 2018, and this track seems to directly confront her previous dependency issues. It’s intense and raw, searching for answers. Can I ever really escape the person I used to be? Am I really changing myself for the better, or am I just lying to myself? Is it all an act? You can fake salvation all day.

SCRUTINY

Stalking music. You’re being followed. Tension. Anxiety. “Shattered glass. Transparency. Smoother on the surface, now. When the cracks run deep.” “The hand up to heaven reaches nothing in the clouds. Scrutiny brings the spectacle down”. It’s telling me things. The music is saying shit to me!

FEIGN FOR LOVE

Pascal’s voice is deeper, more emphatic. Overwrought. Deliberately ugly. “But are you listening?” What a melody. Like a new wave rainstorm. Watch the façade crumble away, revealing the ugliness beneath. No glamour. No artifice. Just stark reality. There’s no more hiding behind masks. Laid bare, exposed and vulnerable. What a sonic punch in the gut. It's easy to tell while listening to Scrutiny that Pascal’s still trying to figure herself out in terms of vocal delivery. She’s unpolished, experimenting with different approaches. It’s really cool to witness this kind of process, this evolution, throughout the album. 

REACTION

Heavy drums. Dissonant. Elements of The Cure, Joy Division, Echo & The Bunnymen, but with a new, post-modern twist. The music is absolutely its own thing. This track’s got a goth-punk thing going on, which is very appealing. Somber aggression? I’ll go with that. It seems to be addressing trolls, I think? Tired edge lord types who spend endless hours online harassing people just to get their goat. They only want to fuck with people because it makes them feel bigger. Such rotten, empty creatures. 

CHAPEL

We begin with a NIN beat. Sublime distress. Then it resolves into a more conventional melody. “So at the end of the day, what’s the point of trying?” “You’ll never see it, but the chapel walls are filthier than your bedroom”. That’s my hook. That’s all I need. The lyrics are routinely drowned by the music and post-production fuckery, which is a deliberate choice, and not just on this song. The band fades out, leaving vocals and noise. Vocals And Noise! 

PHANTOM ENGLISH

Cool beats. The vocals tend to wash over me and I don’t understand a lot of them, but I don’t think that’s the point. The music’s painting pictures in my head of a really fucked up prom, and that’s good enough for me. “Say what you want, if the silence is incomprehensible. I just got lost for a time, and they thought I got too reprehensible”. I’m okay with that. It’s a slow dance. We’re all covered in flop sweat and filled with self-loathing. My date’s corsage is wilting and smoldering before my very eyes under these hot, hot lights! Wood boards are warping beneath our feet in this oppressive torridity. The soles of my shoes are beginning to melt. Is this Hell? Have I always been here?

I get a sense of isolation, perhaps self-imposed. Surrounded by people you see as friends, but there’s something keeping you from completely embracing them. I believe Scrutiny was recorded before Pascal came out as transgender, so this song, and even the album as a whole, could be seen as her feelings being around people she otherwise knows and trusts while keeping this huge secret from them, not ready to reveal herself just yet, secretly terrified of what the people around her might think or say when they learn the truth. That hurts. It's like an open wound. 

The whole album has recurring themes of hiding behind masks, illusions and distractions from potentially harmful or alienating truths. Clear away the illusions and find the truth buried underneath all the artifice, even if it's an ugly or painful thing to behold. Awaken from the illusion and find clarity. Scrutiny is Pascal’s coming out statement. It’s all there, and that’s amazing. What absolute bravery. This is an open challenge to its listeners, loud, aggressive, uncompromising art.

Scrutiny already feels legendary to me. And I guess Pascal Stevenson has been sitting on this music for a few years? That's amazing. I can’t wait to see what’s next from Fashion Club, because this stuff is absolutely staggering. Pure poetry.

(You can listen to the episode that features our Scrutiny discussion and vote on our poll [until October 7th] by following this link. Cheers! -Dustin)