Major holds a place shared by only two others in being bought instantly without even thinking about having to check well... Anything. Except for the artistes responsible, of course. It's fellows, Fluent in Stroll and Audio, Video, Disco are similarly well-made purchases.
Fang Island are still of Brooklyn, formerly of Providence. This second album was released in 2012, some 30 months ago from now.
With its stony cover, it's almost as if we're in for something different... But not. This is really Fang Island part 2, but that's not exactly a bad thing either. The cover art might be less nonsensical than their previous effort, but the fun really starts inside this cardboard envelope, with our three main players of the band, Jason Bartell, Chris Georges and Marc St. Sauveur Jr., reaching out to us in perfect monochrome. Georges in particular holds the centre, with an intense had gesture, delicate coiffing and the finest Indie Rock mustache. The list of credits is far longer this time round, with an additional guitarist and two different bassists joining them over the course of the songs. Also, the "Fang Island Choir" are named for posterity, giving a real sense of scope this time; with the changes are subtle, the entire enterprise is much bigger.
The opening track, 'Kindergarten', uses their signature guitar harmonics, slowly creeping across the stereo field. It begins with solo piano though, giving this album a kind of "indoor" feeling that continues through the whole record. Time signatures are much more settled, with far fewer of those whip-round changes from last time. Maybe that's another reason they chose the cover art? Carved in stone, to the weather the tides...
The first three tracks, 'Kindergarten', 'Sisterly' and 'Seek It Out' are all pretty muted affairs as well, quite calm and steady with solid riffs that use an accentuated mid-range. It's almost as if they're finding their feet, as 'Make Me' and 'Never Understand' go a long way to returning to the previous album's aesthetic, with catchy riffing, third harmonised melodies and a smattering of Drawbar sound. The crowd noises behind the sound in 'Never Understand' give it the feeling of a particularly well behaved gig, or festival stage. Maybe a restaurant-turned-cocktail venue at a weekend?
Curiously, on the back there's a whole line space before 'Asunder', and there is a kind of directional change here in the sound too - there's more energy and the guitar sound steps up, no more the calm and mid-heavy production of the first 5 tracks. A shout out to St. Sauveur's drumming in this sixth track too, perfectly combining with Michael Jacober's fine bass work, allowing these two rhythm players to become more than the mere sum of their parts. 'Dooney Rock' is the high point of the show for me, and well worth the price of entry: A fun little instrumental, with a finger-picking sound on that E drone, joined 14 seconds in by the kick drum on every beat helping to ramp up a feeling of excitement that's really been essentially missing from the otherwise tuneful material we've heard. Fuller sections follow the recurring drones with a whining guitar solo cutting across the texture. At 2:10, they change gear and really put the pedal down, full of outbursts of shredding with extra distortion and harmonics to fill out the texture. Next up, 'Regalia', keeps up the strength of movement, with a real stylistic return to form - crowd-sourcing vocals, dramatic pauses, a few quick shifts in the beat, and a euphoric lead sound, but still with that more solid mid sound behind it. Synthesized strings and a piano are there in the fade out before the before diving right back in to the instrumental. 'Chompers' is the summation of the best of the two preceding tracks, helping form a little unit of just pure fun. The best aspects of the album really are here, focused into tight riffs and catchy solos.
The closing act, comprised of tracks 'Chime Out' and 'Victorinian' tie these two different halves of the record together. 'Chime Out' starts slowly, like 'Make Me', but builds a lot quicker, which is arguably more effective, with a huge wall of guitar chugging and EQ'd harmonics, with the sound of chimes tinkling away above it all. 'Victorinian' starts with a Shakuhachi solo, complete with applause and cheering, before bursting into a hyperactive Piano line. This time, it's like there are different time signatures happening across the same instrument, and it's almost four minutes gone before a fuzzed up guitar comes in to double the melody. The chord sequence is highly reminiscent of the opening, just like the last disc they cut. A rumble of thunder heralds not just the end of the track but the end of the whole as well...
Out of the two musical Ourobouros that Fang Island have given us I'm hard pushed to call a preference. 2010's offering has much more energy over all, a big punch through a wall, telling us that "Yes! This album is here! We will bring you joy!" It was happy and energetic and just bounced off the walls for the sake of it. This one is much more serious, and it doesn't quite succeed for it. The first act is stodgy, even compared to the throwaway enthusiasm of the first part of Fang Island. By the second act, they know who they are again, as do we, and by the end there's been some reconciliation. 'Dooney Rock' and 'Chompers' stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of 'Daisy' and 'Sideswiper', but the other material does feel even as if they themselves aren't exactly thrilled to be their.
I feel a bit bad ending on that kind of note! I still think it's a good record, and I'm glad I bought it &c &c... But it kind of needs the first album to work best, so you know where it's come from even if you're not sure where it's going sometimes. Over all though, it's great stuff and as a piece of Indie-noise-instrumetal-nonsense rhymes, it still works just great.
Reviewed on a
Philips AX1100/00 CD Player through Philips/O'Neill 'The Snug'
SHO8802/10 headphones and Logitech Z323 2.1 Surround Speakers.
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