--Ada Wofford
----Released 12 February 2021
I'm going to go ahead and grant myself permission to be a little cheesy: Absolute Disaster is actually an absolute masterpiece. Now that that's out of my system, let's dig into the music.
Way back in June, I reviewed Captain Frederickson's single, "Ben Stokes." In my review I wrote, "This is one of the most fun and absurd tracks I’ve heard all year." The track, which is featured on Absolute Disaster, maintained that title throughout the year and even into 2021. It's an insane cacophony of guitars, stuttering drums, hilarious vocals, and dog barking. Yes, that's right. There's a sample of a dog barking that is triggered to the beat. It's amazing. So, when Captain Frederickson contacted me with a full LP, I was ready for a solid 30 minutes of dog barking and crazy guitar. What I got was something much more refined and sophisticated than I expected.
Now, there's still plenty of humor and absurdity on the album. The opener is titled, "Is Pepsi OK?" And Captain Frederickson are the only band with the guts to supersede our holy father of one-hit-wonder pop, Lou Bega and create a "Mambo No. 6." Yes, after all these years, we have a 6th mambo. We're through the looking-glass, people. But beyond the humor is some truly terrific rock/electronic music. "Ant & Dec Break America" is the real standout track on the album, mixing LCD Sound System grooves with their own unique talent for glitchy noises and some fantastic sounding drums. "I'm So Fucking Sweet" is a hypnotic romp that is sure to get stuck in your head for weeks. And "Didn't Get All Of It" has one of the coolest sounding glitch instrumentals I've ever heard. It sounds like your headphones are cutting in and out but in a way that is perfectly curated to the track. It's really exciting to listen to.
At the end of the album, Captain Frederickson show us they're not all electro-glitch-dance-rock and spoken-word vocals. "Get The Tables" features jangly guitars and a beautiful vocal melody that forces you to sway in rhythm with the track and possibly even start waving your arms. If this album has a "Hey Jude," this is it. Then comes the closer, "I Use To Be Over," a somber piano ballad lasting only 1:14 but encompassing an entire world. Its solemness reminds me of The Kills' track, "The Last Goodbye," but it's roomy, empty sounding nature reminds me of The Kills' track, "Ticket Man." It's just a beautiful track and really remarkable to realize it comes from the same band that wrote "Ben Stokes." Both excellent songs, but worlds apart in style and mood.
When I asked the band about their recording process and gear, they had this to say:
The recording process was a little bit different for this one, as the band is split across the Atlantic. We have two members in Reading, England and two in Columbus, Ohio; so usually we all get together in the summer. Obviously couldn't do that with this one, so it was all pretty much done remotely, sending ideas and parts back and forth.
We're all big fans of the early GBV (Guided by Voices) aesthetic, but also noise rock bands like Future of the Left and Girl Band. So, with this we wanted to kind of meld the loud, direct sound of those bands with the GBV aesthetic. Not being in the studio recording together actually pushed us to try a few more things than we usually would, looping found sounds and samples. We're big fans of Death By Audio pedals, they just make so many versatile interesting sounding pedals. The Death By Audio Robot is all over this record, and we also tracked down an Octave Clang, which is a DBA pedal that has been discontinued for a while and is tough to find. But really had a unique sound, gives the guitars an almost metallic sound, there's nothing else out there like it.
So, although recording was different and not as planned, I think it worked out for the best as it pushed us to try new things and resulted in a lot more "colorful" and varied album. We wanted to portray that in the cover art, which is why we picked that photo; it's by a photographer based in Abu Dhabi and he was nice enough to give us permission to use it. It's colorful and striking but also captures the irony at the heart of this band.
I couldn't agree more, the album cover fits the aesthetic of this album perfectly. The photo is bright, yet the colors are perfectly contrasted; the subject matter is silly, yet also sort of makes sense (I mean you probably could make a grilled cheese with an iron). And for me, that perfectly describes this album: It's loud and in your face, but never in a way that repels the listener. It's fun and even silly at times, but there's also a professionalism at work here; there's real talent and thoughtfulness behind these tunes. It's an album you just have to hear for yourself. Stream it on Spotify, download at BandCamp, and listen to "Ant & Dec Break America" below:
Comentarios