Flight Facilities – Foreign Language Ft. Jess

I’m not quite sure how I feel about Flight Facilities’ referring to their feature females using first names only. Last year’s sensational single ‘Crave You‘ was helmed by the inimitable force that is Melbourne’s Giselle – both ‘a major babe and total talent’ as one astute commenter let us know. This year’s follow-up (turning out major winter – or summer, depending on which hemi you’re in – anthems on schedule) is piloted (ha! get it?) by the equally enigmatic suggestion that is ‘Jess’. Needless to say, Jess has about as much of an Internet presence as the relatively anonymous 19yo Giselle Rosselli did back in June, 2010, although I have managed to work out that she’s Jess Higgs and did a spot of work with Aussie electro dude . The Internet is not all it’s cracked up to be.

Anyway, a more morally/equal-employment-opportunity-concerned me might really be taking issue with the anonymity of ‘Jess’ and ‘Giselle’ – merely interchangeable female pawns in the game of world DJ domination being played by the Flight Facilities lads? But when the FF boys (or girls?) themselves hide behind their ‘aeronautical engineers at Sydney Airport’ facade (can’t believe my investigation work over a year has come to naught), it’s hard to find fault with the duo. Maybe they just like the mystery. Everyone seems to be wearing masks these days anyway. When you turn out banger after banger (notably only two bangers to date but two from two ain’t bad!), names become unimportant. All there is to know right now is that ‘Foreign Language’ is by those dudes who did ‘Crave You’ and, while less immediately charming, it builds on a legacy for creating pretty fine songs.

If we are talking names for the moment though, I’d have to relegate Jess below Giselle. The breathy, vulnerable innocence that made the unrequited love theme of ‘Crave You’ pop so effortlessly on that single is missing here. But in a sense, Jess’ less remarkable – still good – voice fits ‘Foreign Language’ where lyrics take the back seat as Flight Facilities showcase a growing confidence in their disco/dance capacities. Slightly melodramatic strings on the chorus give way to a bass line that even Jamiroquai would be proud of and, although the handclaps towards the end of the final breakdown demonstrate that the duo are yet to totally shrug off populist choices, the track has a certain dynamism to it that, absent on ‘Crave You’ Giselle’s crooning made up for. FF could easily have stuck to what worked with ‘Crave You’ and gone for cutesy again but on ‘Foreign Language’ they make a serious case for career longevity. At one track a year, we’ll even have an album by 2024.

Flight Facilities – Foreign Language Ft. Jess

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