10/16/2011

Fang Island - 'Sky Gardens EP'

Title: Sky garden
Artist: Fang Island
Date: 2008
Genre: Math Rock, Post-Rock, Indie

Total length: 13 minutes / 3 tracks
Download link: FLAC, bought and uploaded by myself.
Buy on Bandcamp for $2!

Personnel:
Jason Bartell - Guitar
Chris Georges - Guitar
Michael Jacober - Bassist
Nicholas Andrew Sadler - Guitar
Marc. St. Sauveur - Drums




Rating 8/10 - Excellent
I love Fang Island. Something in their music just makes you incredibly happy. They describe their sound as 'everyone high-fiving everyone', and I couldn't agree more. You will forget all your troubles and listen to a piece of sheer awesemeness.
This is a short EP, but that doesn't matter. Even at 13 minutes long it's one of the most enjoyable albums I have come across. Perhaps their self titled debut album even more so. If you ever feel down, take my advice and listen to Fang Island. You will instantly become happier than you ever were before.

01 - Curaga The song starts of slow with a fruity low pitched guitar playing an odd note accompanied by a background of a texture guitar and continuous cymbal roll. Slowly but steadily building up to the moment where the guitars start working together. The drum joins the party after which a beautiful melody evolves. They continually change tempo and melody during this part, making it relatively complex. Multiple listens will uncover more and more of its beauty.
With every change in melody the happiness the music tries to convey becomes more clear. It's hard to describe what exactly is going on in this song, but you would have to take my word for the fact that it puts a big grin on my face.

02 - Absolute Place After the explosion of happiness that is the first track fades out, we are immediately introduced to the second track. It starts of with short bursts of energy: One stroke of multiple guitars that fades out and suddenly stops with the beat of a drum. This pattern quickens its pace until the main part of the track starts. Again just a big fuzzy ball of happiness. The melody changes continually, and the warm and exotic sound of the guitars once again doesn't fail in forcing a smile on my face.
At about 4:50 the drums become less noisy and a very warm and tropical sound appears. This is continued for the rest of the track,  and at one moment they even start to sing. The vocals are a bit of a chant, and although they are not the best vocalist of all times it still gives a very nice effect. At the end of the songs all the guitars join in on a quick paced ensemble which suddenly stops and opens into the next song

03 - Trustfall This song has a very warm opening. At 2:18 this is the shortest of the bunch, but doesn't disappoint me in any single way. It still has their beautiful and happy sound packed together in one big ball of energy. The track ends with two guitars joining in to play five final quick notes before an almost instant fade out.

The verdict My review of this album has been very positive, but I do have a couple remarks. In my opinion the distortion of the guitars is a bit too much, and the recording is a bit lo-fi. But then again, this is an Indie band that came to be as an art project. Another thing is that their sound hasn't changed a bit over their two EP's and one album. In fact all the songs on these albums appear very similar, and I'm worried that they will become boring if they keep this up for much longer.
Other than that their music is great. It just somehow makes me happy whenever and wherever I listen to it. You should definitely try it!

Geen opmerkingen:

Een reactie posten