- You know that guy, you run into him in West End or Brunswick sometimes. Wearing hippy couture, talking about permaculture with the zeal of religious missionary out to make new converts. And then there's that other guy. Turns up to parties with a ukulele, always ready for a kooky song. His favourite records and clothes were stolen from his grandfather's closet. Charlie Mgee, the brains behind Formidable Vegetable, is a combination of both those people; but stick with me here, because he's not quite as annoying as that might imply.
Formidable Vegetable, and their third album Earth People Fair, are a mixture of different musical styles. They are certainly talented musicians who tackle each adeptly. However it should be understood primarily as folk music and folk music with a message too. The cheesy styles -which vary from ukulele pop to funk, gospel choir and electro swing-hop- are not attempts to push musical boundaries. They are easy to digest and dance to, making the messages of the songs easier to remember. Like the seventh permaculture principle, it's about observing patterns in nature and building from them rather than reinventing the wheel.
Permaculture as a theory and practice is weaved through the album like mycelium through soil. The title is a combination of the three permaculture ethics: Earth Care, People Care & Fair Share. The songs aren't quite as overt as their debut album which literally had a track for each of the twelve design principles. With that done already, Earth People Fair is like an attempt to extrapolate those out of the garden into a broader worldview. The album ends with a couple of quite touching tributes to recently passed permaculture founder Bill Mollison.
Formidable Vegetable seem made for music festivals really: where the general good vibes empower people to dance unselfconsciously to a guy on his ukulele extolling the virtues of compost toilets. If you've ever seen them at Woodford, you'll know that in that context they can certainly rock a big crowd.
Festivals -and socially conscious art in general- can act as escapism from our day to day drudgery for a momentary feeling of utopian togetherness. The songs of Formidable Vegetable are something more again than that: literally grounded in a philosophy that sees the soil under our feet as linked to broader environmental concerns, politics and even art.
- Andy Paine.