Essentially it’s a collection of friends, mainly musicians and artists, who have all started up new projects at a similar time,’ Kit of Trophy Wife tells me, explaining the concept behind Blessing Force, the collective which has been operating in Oxford for just over a year. At this summer’s Field Day festival in London I caught up with two of the collective’s leading lights, the three piece Trophy Wife and Hugo Manuel, whose solo work operates under the moniker Chad Valley. Kit goes on, ‘We like the idea that when someone checks out our band they’ll then directly go and check out another band or artist from Blessing Force.’
Not everyone has been so enthusiastic, though, and the collective has attracted criticism from both within Oxford and further afield. Locally based rapper Asher Dust has made his feelings clear on his track ‘Force The Blessing’. ‘He raps about how we’re really middle class, which is true, and we’re white, which is true, and we’re racist because there are no black people in Blessing Force,’ Hugo explains, evidently perplexed by what he sees as the rapper’s warped logic. ‘It’s really insulting.’ Such misinformed and downright vicious attacks on the group seem only to have strengthened the loyalty of its artists however, and both Trophy Wife and Chad Valley describe Blessing Force as something they are ‘proud to be part of’.
Hugo is much less enthusiastic about the other scene that he has found his Chad Valley project bundled into: chillwave. ‘It’s really enclosed, restrictive,’ he says, expressing his desire to move away from the label. ‘I’m focusing on getting my production much more slick and classic and I’m listening to a lot of records from the 70s. I don’t want to be really influenced by what’s going on around me.’ Although describing himself as ‘flattered’ by the countless comparisons to Washed Out, it is obvious that Hugo has found himself somewhat exasperated in his attempts to forge a unique musical identity for Chad Valley.
Aside from his solo work, Hugo’s other involvements include the four piece Jonquil, whose take on sunny afro-pop has seen them develop into one of the most exciting bands working in Oxford today. Hugo tells me about their new album, set for release early next year. ‘We’ve moved away from the tropical thing, I was listening to loads of African guitar music but now it’s more straight ahead pop songs. There’s a lot of Fleetwood Mac in there.’
Also cropping up in conversation with Trophy Wife, Fleetwood Mac were cited by the band as an influence on their upcoming EP, Bruxism, the inaugural release on Blessing Force’s new record label. ‘We’ve pushed ourselves in a new direction,’ Jody explains, ‘the idea was to expand our sound a bit.’ The band assures me, however, that their core sound of ‘funky bass lines, slapping beats’ juxtaposed with Jodbry’s fragile vocals will remain unchanged.
After animated talk of new projects in the works, our conversations end on a more poignant note as we turn towards the subject of Oxford’s Truck Festival, which was liquidated in August. ‘It’s a real shame. I’ve been going there since I was about 13,’ Hugo tells me, visibly saddened by the news. Trophy Wife react similarly but are able to introduce some degree of optimism as Kit laughs, ‘It just leaves it open for Andrew Mears [formerly of Youthmovies and lynchpin of Blessing Force] doesn’t it? There’s talk of a Blessing Force festival starting up.’ As our conversation quickly turns to ‘just having a bonfire in a field and getting fucked’, it becomes less certain whether or not this is a serious suggestion. Either way, with Blessing Force around, Oxford’s music scene is looking as healthy as ever.
