FIDLAR
(Self Titled)
1.5/5
Triple J has chosen FIDLAR’S self titled album as their ‘album of the week’. They’ve dubbed it ‘Surf Punk at it’s best’, which might be true if you ignored every surf band in existence and imagine these guys as groundbreaking. They really aren’t.
Instrumentally, there’s a bit of hope, but more disappointment. The drums are catchy, and they’re trying to be adventurous with the guitar – there’s a hint of off key riff work reminiscent of Black Flag - but they fall short of the mark with dull songs that don’t go anywhere, and listening to the lyrical content is absolute punishment. Most tracks are about being a loser, but they fail to execute it in a clever manner and it comes off as attention seeking like a 16 year old who thinks he’s amazing because he’s just found out what weed is. Their track ‘No Waves’ is practically unlistenable due to the blatant need to rhyme at the end of every verse, which forces awful and unnecessary lyrics into the song. This happens too often in the album and makes the thing about as pleasant to deal with as kidney stones.
If you want the ‘surf’ part of this band done right, listen to Thee Oh Sees. If you want the ‘punk’ lyrical side done right, listen to Titus Andronicus. If you want a band that sounds exactly like this but better, try Bleeding Knees Club. Don’t listen to FIDLAR.
- T B
Dead set though, these guys blow chunks. This could have been really clever if they shot the vocalist and replaced him with someone who doesn't come off as a drug addled 16 year old. I mean, look at Pete fucking Doherty. He's drug fucked half the time and even with his tuneless wailing, at least the guy knows how to write a song.
At the end of the day though if this winds up with me getting something published, I'll secretly love FIDLAR forever. Definitely not for their music though! hohohoho.
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