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Liam Finn – Fomo (album)
New Zealander Liam Finn has been used to the limelight for most of his life now, having experienced touring with his father Neil of Crowded House from a very young age and gaining support slots with Wilco and The Black Keys off the back of his first solo record I’ll Be Lightning. Now, with the release of his second full length album, FOMO, Finn seeks to increase his profile amongst the ever growing list of prominent Kiwi indie-pop artists.
His sound is moulded around a laid-back, soulful vocal delivery which complements the more percussive undercurrent of layered drums and fuzzy bass lines, giving the tracks on FOMO a real pop drive. ‘Don’t Even Know Your Name’ uses drum machine, drums and tambourine to provide an energy and enthusiasm, sidelining guitar in favour of a more rhythmic approach. Think Jack Johnson crossed with Bedouin Soundclash.
Liam Finn by the awesome Rukmunal Hakim
Even stand out track ‘Real Late’- which conjures up images of a late night romantic rendezvous -includes an infectious funk inflected bass line that propels the track on over stunted surfside guitar. There’s a hint of a slight reggae influence that provides the album with a mellow optimism.
Despite this emphasis on beat and rhythm, FOMO is an incredibly reflective album as Finn ruminates from the safety of his New Zealand beach cottage about past loves, what could have been and new beginnings. His main strength is undoubtedly his lyrical prowess and ability to capture the everyday and imbue it with great sentimental significance. From the act of deleting images of an ex-girl friend off his computer in ‘Little Words’ to hearing an unrequited love in the room next door fixing things with Sellotape in ‘Cold Feet’. These images are recalled with a sincere spontaneity that makes the album an incredibly personal work.
The title, an acronym for “Fear of Missing Out” is as apt as ever as Finn’s anxieties over the future and fear of unfulfilled ambitions flows through nearly every track, giving the album a consistent theme and feel. This consistency is also a drawback however, as the album sticks to a similar tone throughout and never really ventures into the new or inventive. The reggae and funk influences here are only hinted at and never fully embraced as he sticks quite rigidly by his pop sensibilities, producing an album that is too safe, and could perhaps have benefited from being a bit more daring.
illustration by Eva Vazquezabraham
While the dreamy psychedelic tendencies of fellow Kiwi artists such as Connan Mockasin, Lawrence Arabia and The Phoenix Foundation have gained them much attention of late, Finn favours a more conventional pop approach, producing an easier but ultimately less rewarding listen. This is not a record that demands attention. Its sun tinted nostalgia and pop-funk beats make this a perfect listen for apathetic Summer days, but FOMO lacks the invention to take it out of the realm of background music, being a little too much of an easy listen.
Illustration by Emma Ridgway
RATING: 3/5
BEST TRACKS: Cold Feet, Real Late, Little Words
SOUNDS LIKE: Bedouin Soundclash, Jack Johnson, Crowded House
FOMO is released on Transgressive Records on July 4th
Illustrator links: R. Hakim , Eva Vazquezabraham and Emma Ridgway.
Fleet Foxes- Helplessness Blues (album)
It seems an age ago now that we first heard the infectious choral melody of Fleet Foxes’ debut single ‘White Winter Hymnal’, an indie-folk ode to winter that immediately appealed to both genres and infiltrated mainstream and alternative music followings alike. Their self-titled debut album with its pastoral harmonies and springtime optimism helped make folk- or at least a new brand of folk- fashionable again. A domino effect was set in motion as bands such as Stornoway and Mumford and Sons felt a spike in their popularity here and the other side of the Atlantic. But with Helplessness Blues Fleet Foxes show once again how far above their contemporaries they really are as they reclaim their place atop the indie-folk podium.
Helplessness Blues ushers in a more mellow and measured approach to song writing, echoing a growing maturity of the band and as individuals; “So now I get older/than my mother and father/when they had their daughter/so what does that say about me?” A framework for an album full of reflection on what has passed and questioning of the future is set from the off as the opening track ‘Montezuma’ (as with most of the album) focuses largely on singer/songwriter Robin Pecknold’s soothing vocals, which glide over acoustic guitar lullabies, gentle piano, a whole host of backing vocals and a diverse, though never overwhelming, percussion section.
The band use a wider range of instruments than before, more in line with folk tradition- the fiddle, flute and upright bass all add a new dimension to the band’s sound, marking a shift towards more classical folk. The clarinet instrumental in ‘Bedouin Dress’ typifies this move. However, the instrumentation is still secondary to Pecknold’s poetic vocals, achieving a more ‘stripped back’ sound than on their first album.
Helplessness Blues a more focused and polished feel, bringing strong vocal harmonies to the fore, as in ‘The Plains/Bitter Dancer’ and ‘Helplessness Blues’, and in many ways the title track is typical of the album as a whole. It presents a quixotic take on the wonders of nature, while posing questions on the inherent absurdities of life: “If I know one thing it’s that everything I see/of the world outside is so inconceivable”. Yet rather than reinforce the frustrations and ambivalence of helplessness, the album creates a tranquil and reflective vibe through which the world is examined then set-down again for reflection on a later day. The album very rarely veers from this tone, and as a result lacks the “youthful exuberance” of songs like ‘Ragged Wood’ from their first album.
Indeed the tracks on Helplessness Blues drift by beautifully rather than demand attention, making for an enjoyable if slightly unremarkable first listen. However, given time the album becomes more fully bodied through its consistency, and creates a more rounded and polished psychological profile of the band. The stand-out tracks on the album make it exquisit in their own right and the album a wise investment in these cash-strapped-times.
The album Helplessness Blues is out now on Sub Pop.
RATING:4/5
BEST TRACKS: Montezuma, The Shrine/An Argument, Helplessness Blues
SOUNDS LIKE: Nick Drake, Devendra Banhart, Tim Buckley
Girls’ Names- Dead to Me (album)
In recent years there has been a resurgence in the popularity of lo-fi garage bands, mixing together 60s American sunshine-pop and the bleak sound of British shoegaze. Bands such as Crystal Stilts and Vivian Girls have emerged from the New York scene, but now with the release of Girls Names’ debut this musical trend has gained a foothold in the UK.
Formed in Belfast back in 2009, Girls’ Names quickly put out a series of small releases on Slumberland and Tough Love Records which earned them support slots with high profile names such as Dum Dum Girls and Abe Vigoda. Their first full length album Dead To Me (released this month) justifies this impressive billing whilst hinting at bigger things to come.
Using a classic pop combination of drums, bass, guitar and vocals, Girls’ Names adhere to the ethos that ‘less is more’, an approach that results in an album full of expertly crafted three minute pop songs. Snare heavy drum beats and slick surf-side guitar licks give their music a stylishly frantic feel, whilst echo laden bass lines combined with Neil Brogan’s dark and detached vocals add a sombre dimension to their sound which accentuates the album’s recurring themes of death and separation.
Within this admittedly strict structure however rises a whole host of influences which seamlessly permeate their music. Brogan et al dip in and out of sounds as diverse as The Jesus and Mary Chain fuzz of ‘No More Words’, to the unnerving Joy Division-esque track ‘Nothing More To Say’ which plays like an ode to ‘Digital’- Brogan’s voice summons up the spirit of Ian Curtis with his drone like vocals as he repeats the lines ‘I want to run away/ I’ve nothing more to say’ over and over again. However, the best is saved ’til (almost) last with the brilliant track ’Kiss Goodbye’: memorable for its more mellow undertones and soulful backing vocals, this song forms the backbone of the album in terms of style and quality.
Dead To Me is a 30 minute helter-skelter ride through the themes of death, loss and heartbreak and although this gives it a rather desolate outlook it’s a surprisingly enjoyable listen which passes by all too quickly. Maintaining a consistently high standard, the album achieves a stylistically conclusive feel. We can expect to hear a lot more from Girls Names in the coming years.
Listened to the album? Let us know what you think…
RATING: 4/5
BEST TRACKS: Kiss Goodbye, I Lose, When You Cry
SOUNDS LIKE: The Jesus and Mary Chain, Black Tambourine, Crystal Stilts
Girls Names’ Dead To Me is released on Tough Love Records on April 25th.
Cage the Elephant: Thankyou, Happy Birthday (album)
Image: PR
WORDS: Henry Wilkinson
In 2008, after relocating to London, Kentucky band Cage The Elephant released their self-titled debut album, an album that absorbed all the surrounding Indie scene influences and culminated with them touring in support of the Pigeon Detectives and subsequently hitting the mainstream consciousness with the single “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked”. Three years on and the much anticipated release of their second album Thank you, Happy Birthday is upon us, an album which sees them turn their back on UK influences and embark upon a sharper, more American punk-rock sound…
The opener “Always Something” sets a pace which the album rarely veers from; a pulsing punk drum-beat is decorated with distorted guitar feedback that crackles over a thumping bass line. Singer Matthew Schultz pitches in, breathlessly squalling out lyrics about alienation and paranoia. This formula is repeated for most of the album, the result being an exhaustingly predictable listen.
At times they exhilarate, as the band’s energy and enthusiasm rubs off, especially on tracks “Aberdeen”- which sounds like it belongs on a Pixies’ record with it’s brilliantly cathartic chorus- and “2024”, an anthem for angst filled teenage romance. Unfortunately these are the high points of an otherwise average album.
The influences of Pixies and Modest Mouse are clear, especially in Schultz’s vocal-style which mirrors the idiosyncrasies of both Frank Black and Isaac Brock a little too closely at times. This ‘mirroring’ begins to grate somewhat, especially on the single “Shake Me Down” and almost as a by-product of this ‘homage’ process the album’s style sounds forced, as if the deviation from the sound of their debut album was a conscious effort rather than a natural progression. This is especially true in “Indy Kidz”, an attempted satire on the pretension and perceived trendiness of the indie music scene which backfires, sounding instead like an adolescent attempt at individuality and rebellion. It brings to mind Pavement’s “Cut Your Hair”, a critique of the music industry and the importance it places on image and style ahead of substance, not least for the line “get the right haircut”. However, where Pavement succeeded, Cage The Elephant fail, and unfortunately Thank you, Happy Birthday doesn’t show enough originality or maturity to give it any chance of longevity.
RATING: 2/5
BEST TRACKS: Aberdeen, 2024
SOUNDS LIKE: Pixies, Modest Mouse, OK Go
