Fur Coat: Mind Over Matter

Caracas, Venezuela’s Fur Coat are a pair of producers who specialize in a sort of low-key electronic funk. Their debut full-length, Mind Over Matter, relies heavily on simple, almost exclusively mid-tempo, funk grooves. Generally there’s a constantly thumping kick drum, some tinny synth hi-hat and a rudimentary bassline. Often these basic grooves are augmented by fleeting synth effects, and sometimes they employ a mediocre vocalist. The pair claim their music is intended for the dancefloor. But what Mind Over Matter really sounds like is a couple of producers hawking their demo tape for big-name pop and R&B stars in the hopes that they’ll catch a break. These songs are essentially backing tracks in search of a frontman. Even when they do have vocals on the song, those vocals seem carefully modulated to not stick out in any way. That way they can easily be swept aside if Usher or Rihanna digs the groove and wants the track. There’s very little in the way of melodies or hooks on Mind Over Matter, which makes it a terribly boring listen, unless you’re, say, a representative of an R&B or pop star searching for track ideas for their next album.