Faye – You’re Better

In the old days, unsigned bands had no choice but to be lo-fi. Recording music was an expensive and mysterious business. And it was a business, unless you had the wherewithal to splash out on a four-track cassette machine, with all the tape hiss and muddy track bouncedowns that implied. These days, we have come a full 180 degrees. The technology needed to make releasable quality recordings is ubiquitous. Lo-fi has now become a style choice. And thank goodness, because God knows, we need a constant intravenous antidote to the aural baby food that passes as the mainstream these days.

This 180- degree shift also means that artists are, ironically, once again relying on studios to capture their insouciance. This is by no means a regression. Bands such as Faye who, on first listen, seem cavalier with their sonic choices are actually exercising a very specific set of musical decisions. What seems rushed and casual is actually finely considered and definitely not accidental, not ‘that will do’.

There is a tremendous depth to Faye that your first listen of You’re Better will not flag up. These songs are not dizzy snippets, or slapdash moments. As a musical unit, Sarah Blumenthal and Susan Plante bring a rich array of ingredients to this melange of pure pop sensibility and hardcore power. Faye pay no heed to convention and are not averse to subverting themselves. There is a welcome and random dissonance to these songs that is designed to unnerve and unsettle. Only musicians confident of their craft can pull this off and it is this constant tension between the obvious and the odd that make this album a compelling listen.

You can find references if you need to them. The grinding, shadowy In The Dark is a re-imagined Gigantic with it’s fuzzed out quiet-loud-quiet dynamism, and there are hints of Elastica (Dream Punches). It is the magnificent album closer Mortal Kombat that steals the show with its flabby bass drum and growly bass intro underpinning a dreamy, reflective vocal that builds to a crashing two minutes of frantic and glorious power-pop riffing. A song that sounds much bigger than its running time, full of dissonant twists and deliberate wrong turns that will, paradoxically have you singing along.

An excellent debut from a smart outfit that deserve a recognition for their unswerving commitment to their own idiosyncratic path. Heartily recommended.

You’re Better by Faye is out on Self Aware Records on August 12th