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So imagine the joy that courses through the veins when something Other Than Serious plonks itself into the stereo and makes with the rolling of good times, be they accompanied by beer and pals or simply enjoyed alone, at home, while wearing just pants and a massive grin. There are a select few acts that have this effect: Andrew W.K. and Trans Am are pretty ace at spreading those great vibrations, and now Brooklyn-based quintet Fang Island have quite, quite brilliantly fused the fervid exuberance of the aforementioned brace of musical mirth-merchants on an eponymous collection that screams, from its first notes: party on, and on, and on, dudes.
So! Imagine it not, friend, and instead come on in and enjoy the sound of a band who describe these delectably dizzying ditties as the aural equivalent of "everyone high-fiving everyone". Well, that'd make a noise, too, but it'd be as initially annoying/ultimately forgettable as the drone of a few thousand vuvuzelas. This noise, though: it comes courtesy of three guitarists who never feel the need to barf up a boring solo, a bassist who does his best to keep up (and does so, thump-thumping his way around spiralling riffs), and a drummer who must have blisters on his palms the size of golf balls if his efforts here are repeated on stage night after night. It is as-good-as instrumental, vocals restricted mainly to sing/shout-along exclamations of Yes Indeed We're Having A Great Time, and as instantly refreshing as dunking your head in a paddling pool when it's 30-plus degrees outside. (That's Celsius, Fahrenheit folks. If not, that pool's frozen and our tongues are stuck to the ice.)
Disconnect from this debut album's infectiously excellent, if unashamedly one-trick, tone of utmost merriment and the music doesn't really hold up to a great deal of scrutiny. Sure, the players are competent, but they're not as technically able as some of their Significantly More Serious peers. But to disconnect is to deny yourself the awesome time you deserve. That you're about to have. So get high-fiving already and make mine a cold one.
--Mike DiverFind more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
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Customer Reviews
How to describe this album is not entirely straightforward; the band themselves state that their approach is "everyone high-fiving everyone". The trouble with that it just sounds like yet another silly "emo" band and if truth be told Fang Island are anything but. Yes exuberance, infectious melodies and fun are the order of the day but in the short 30+ minutes of this album there is enough musical diversity and twists to leave you breathless. A detour and pause, since some of you wonderful Amazon readers do appear to have significant hang ups about albums marked by brevity. To this punter quite why this is a bit of a mystery. Albums like the Lemonheads "Shame about Ray" are absolute models of economy and brilliance and clock in just above the half hour mark. Do we really always want 50 minute plus of which 20 minutes is pure dirge or filler? But I digress.
Fang Island (dig) is a musical wonder packed with joyous instrumentals, post punk anthems and songs with such verve that the over confidence police should be contacted as a matter of urgency. Check out "Sideswiper" it is huge, god knows who has influenced but it sounds like a rock jam gone slightly mad. "Treeton" tries to pack into 3 minutes what the astounding Titus Andronicus achieved in ten minute songs on the "Monitor". Starting off with a Beach Boys style vocal the songs revs up so much it's like a Triumph Bonneville T100 after a service. "Daisy" is one of the albums highlights and is a fantastic mad swirl of a song with chant like verses from the band which MTV picked up on recently. "The Illinois" throws in everything and the kitchen sink and with a line up featuring three guitarists it is hardly surprising that the power chords on this album are HUGE. There is not a song on here that does not press the excitement button. Perhaps in terms of influences there is the odd trace of Grizzly Bear here and Animal Collective there, but you could cite in equal measures Boston and Queen! Indeed the instrumental "Welcome Wagon" is one of my favourites on this album and it sounds like Richie Blackmore on Ecstasy. All in all "Fang Island (Dig)" is an album that grabs you by the shirt collar and tugs you in so many directions you feel overwhelmed but strangely uplifted by the experience.
Musically they're an intriguing hybrid of sounds, some of which up are decidedly curious and probably not on their list of influences. When they sing, which is not very often, there's the close multiple harmonies of something like Fleet Foxes or even Arcade Fire. Otherwise there's the complex rhythms of a less technical Battles running parallel to the rock opera of The Darkness, the bleeps of Parts & Labor and a sense of friskiness that would occur if The Polyphonic Spree met DragonForce and discussed Boston and Cagney & Lacey.
This is an album that rips a bad mood off your face, shatters it against the nearest hard surface and replaces it with a jubilant grin. I really, really love it.
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