Fox Reviews Rock

The next instalment in our weekly Spotify Playlist “Song Of The Week” this time we are joined by Fen with their song “Ritual Lite”. Believe it or not but this is the first song the band have released in 12 years, I think its a long time coming judging by how good this is!

• Spotify

Song Explanation

This explanation is provided by the vocalist Doug Harrison.

Sam Levin is the guitarist/cowriter who I refer to. Randall Stoll is the drummer. Jeff Caron is the bassist.

Sam sent me the ideas for this song in November 2012. “Terribly undeveloped this one,” was his sales pitch in the email. He was going through a serious creative burst. And it wasn’t just guitar parts. The recording (far from undeveloped) included an intro, three more sections, bass parts, and a choice of drum machine that put the song in the vibe of 80’s techno.

At that time, there were a couple people around me listening to Future Sex/Love Sounds, and I started to appreciate some of Justin Timberlake’s tones and dexterity. For the first part, I went for a fast, clipped delivery that reminded me of MJ, another unlikely choice for Fen vocal inspiration. When Randall played through the song a decade later, he safely returned us to the world of heavy rock. We’re proud of it.

Lyrically, I see Ritual Lite as a painting. At the edge, it shows a lost wanderer having stumbled across a spirit-crazed ceremony in the jungle. Demonic creatures are swinging about wildly. Other faceless shadow-beings are gathered near a central fire. The fire itself is the mouth of some ancient manifestation buried in the ground.

The wanderer, hesitating at the threshold of himself, is invited to take a rite of passage. The song is about choosing to let go of one’s earthly fears or to resign oneself to those fears, at the cost of life.

The Ritual Lite Artist Pick image on Spotify is a close-up crop taken from the album cover, which is an oil painting by our friend Jason Froese. He has provided the artwork for several Fen albums: Heron Leg, Congenital Fixation, Trails out of Gloom, and now Dear Mouse.

Although the cropped image is really from the scene of the title track, Dear Mouse, showing us gathered by candlelight on the night before our old rental house in East Vancouver was demolished, the image resonates with the fire ceremony in Ritual Lite.

What did you think to the song of the week? Let us know in the comments!

All the songs, used in this post belong to their respective owners and this website does not claim any right over them. All images were provided by Fen and is artwork by Jason Froese.