Album Review: Fat Earthers - "Bored"

 

Okay, so does any of this sound familiar...Fat Earthers are a duo from the Isle of Wight who have made headlines on the lo-fi scene and are now crashing out into the wider world. However, although they've frequently gigged with Wet Leg on their way up, they're a bit of a different proposition.

The opening Instrumental starts off with a sample of our ubergruppentosser Boris Johnson before going into a full-on surf guitar and drums assault but just when you think you've got Fat Earthers down pat as a psychobilly-garage band, they go into the two minute lo-fi bass-heavy Social Distancing, a lockdown ode to...well, you can probably guess...which manages to cram some Dead Sheeran style deadpan humour in there as well. The creeping title track is like a lo-fi cousin of the Iggy track of the (almost) same name, the only issue is that Selfish starts out as basically almost the exact same song with different lyrics and leaves you worrying a bit that this is gonna get a bit repetitive. However, they up the tempo and add in some much needed guitar thrash quickly enough before it becomes an issue.

Another BoZo sample heralds the arrival of Like Like Like, a deadpan attack on social media culture which scuttles along unsettlingly and Phoney is similarly sinister, veering from a deadpan Fall style verse to a thrash style guitar attack. Policeman starts off a capella before going into an almost Cramps style psychobilly skitter, Oil Race has a dark almost lo-fi Depeche Mode feel to it which just leaves Call Me Punk, an unexpected slice of bluesy acoustic led sarcasm which quickly goes into a fast-paced blast of vitriol.

Honestly, I'm not quite sure where I stand on this album - Bored does start to repeat itself a bit towards the end and doesn't quite have a full on killer knockout track but there's enough innovation and a good mix of anger and gallows humour in there to make it an intriguing listen. Fat Earthers are definitely a band with promise - not quite the finished article yet but they're definitely well on their way. Bored is definitely well worth a curiosity listen if nothing else.

Bandcamp Link

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑🌑 (7/10)

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