Tuesday 12 April 2011

Fa Fa Fa Far Out

Its nice to get a new album in the mail by a band you know nothing about, throw it on and fall for its charms on the first listen. This has happened to me twice today, which must be unprecedented.

The first album is this one, What Made Those Holes And Rents, by Reno indie kids Fa Fa Fa. Its got some pedigree - its been recorded by none other than Howard Bilerman, responsible for the Godspeed! You Black Emperor albums. Yet these nine tracks are more akin to Bilerman's more recent output, where he has worked on indie gems by the likes of Wolf Parade and the Arcade Fire. Its an interesting blend of sounds and genres, floating from the more generic college indie rocker 'Camden' (although it contains direct links to TS Eliot's amazing poem "The Hollow Men") to the OMD inflected 'Le Ciel '74' to the woozy jam that is the titular track. They love to play around with convention, which is fitting seeing as their name references the familiar repetitive refrain from Talking Heads' seminal song 'Psycho Killer' - and the hats are tipped further on 'Horns For Horns'.

Admittedly this amount of genre hopping does make the head whizz, but when most of the tracks hit the mark it makes for a great listen - and the perfect launchpad for a band to assault the sense both now and in the future.

What Made Those Holes And Rents
is out now - you cant get it either at their Bandcamp or here. There's a rumour that they will be doing something with the cool San Franciscan label 20 Sided Records later in the year too - keep an eye out for that for sure...

Fa Fa Fa - Give The Lie To

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