Album Review: Isölation Party – Fibreoptic Holiday

Canada’s Isölation Party have just released their debut full length, Fiberoptic Holiday, via the independent UK label No Front Teeth Records and it is now available on digital and vinyl formats. One thing immediately struck me as I opened my download of Fiberoptic Holiday, the album tracks, at least on the digital version, are almost uniquely in alphabetical order, the only other band with an obsession with this, at least that I know of, is the UK Subs with their somewhat obsessive A-Z back catalogue of albums.

Dark Matter is the sparky start to Isölation Party‘s Fibreoptic Holiday, it’s angular post punk that’s driven along by a power pop enthusiasm, this is carried through into Disasociator. Fibreoptic Holiday‘s title track brings a straight up new wave fuelled power pop element into the mix that has a brighter feel and the album continues to throw new elements into the mix, in particular the track Fine Lines delivers a nod to punks origins with a distinct feel of The Clash, but for the most part this is energetic vintage power pop with a spiky post punk edge.

Isölation Party sound like a distant cousin of fellow Canadian power pop outfit The Tranzmitors, and if you’re going to take a vacation this year then you could do worse than to take a Fibreoptic Holiday with Isölation Party. This is an album that is heavily influenced by the power pop and new wave bands, but this is no pop album, Isölation Party also have punk and post punk leanings that creep unexpectedly into the album and keep things energised. Fibreoptic Holiday is an album of eleven, there’s an extra unlisted bonus track on my copy, razor sharp infectious cuts that deserve to be heard.

Fibreoptic Holiday can be purchased on vinyl via No Front Teeth Records here

You can stream and purchase Fibreoptic Holiday via Bandcamp here