EP Review: Furrowed Brow – Dead Dead Dead Still Digging

Having caught Manchester’s Furrowed Brow at the tail end of last year in all their fake fur clad glory, I’ve been awaiting something from the band that on the night, through the haze of alcohol, made an impression. Fortunately I made notes for the review of that night, the words “dystopian stripped back post punk”  sprang into my head, as did an observation that they were “part of the new wave of pissed off outspoken post punk bands that are emerging in the wake of austerity“. My recollections may be hazy six months after the event but they obviously made an impression, now they’ve unveiled their debut, the five track “Dead Dead Dead Still Digging” EP, that is now available though digital service providers via Notes From Underground.

 

The “Dead Dead Dead Still Digging” EP lurches into life with a rock ‘n roll stomp of a drum beat, you could be forgiven for expecting the guitars to kick into some hyperactive garage rock but after few seconds the game changes dramatically, a bass line and synths that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Duran Duran’s better releases ease themselves into place, all of which steadily digs itself into a funky post punk groove. All shades of Manchester’s punk and post punk are represented, from the bouncy off kilter indie charms of ‘That’s Why I’m A Ponce‘ to the surreal ‘My Bone Idle Idol“, a track that resembles a drunken evening spent in the company of Half Man Half Biscuit, John Cooper Clarke and The Fall. ‘Killed Myself And The Kids‘ is a great punk song title, but what you get is surprisingly upbeat keyboards to accompany the melancholy backing and dark subject matter, the EP’s final cut is ‘Cool As Hell‘ which unsurprisingly, as by now you’re expecting the unexpected, heads off down it’s own path of no return.

 

I’m normally sceptical of press releases, but the description of “glamorous, bewildered, brazen and ethereal” that accompanied the EP pretty much hits the nail on the head, every track takes you on a different turn, new wave synths clash with funky rhythms, spiky guitars and a peculiarly Mancunian attitude and delivery, a combination that shouldn’t work, but somehow it does. Furrowed Brow are doing things very much on their own terms, do I remember them sounding like this? the honest answer is no, but that’s why I take notes at gigs. This is a wilfully idiosyncratic EP from a band that have hoovered up the dark side of pop culture from the last four decades, there are so many colliding influences that it’s impossible to pin them down, will you like this, I honestly have no idea, the best thing to do with the “Dead Dead Dead Still Digging” EP is to add it to your playlist via the digital purveyor of your choice and make your own mind up.

 

If you want something that truly blurs the boundaries then the “Dead Dead Dead Still Digging” EP can be streamed here