Rising from the shadows of South London’s mystic ‘Windmill Scene’, Famous bring something bizarrely refreshing to the table. Party Album has been a long time in the making. Alice Beard takes a deeper look at the offering.
Following on from a string of past singles and EPs, Famous’ debut Party Album looks out onto a much bolder, wider expanse than previously. Balancing sobering themes of romanticism, rage, joy and sadness, this mutilation of genres comprises years of struggle and experimentation. Jack Merrett remains the only consistent member of this project. In spite of this, he doesn’t like to pit himself as the face of it all, allowing the influence to flood from the waves of collaborators who have made Famous what it is. It seems oftentimes confusing, but in its own unconventional way, this is what lends to the album’s vague, uncompromising sound.
Gentle piano and anthemic, overdriven guitar lines collide in opener Boxing Day, offering up a more than hearty welcome. It feels a short-lived piece, Merrett struggling through the whirlwind of sound. In many ways the nature of the piece manages to perfectly encapsulate the labouring subject matter. ‘The truth is I’m scared but it’s fine’ are the strained voicings of our lead. We’re in for a long road with this album.
The following What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life immediately turns the page. Instantly pulling you into the chaos, spiralling synths and relentless percussive elements take no prisoners. Even its chugging guitar line compels you to go deeper and allow yourself to become completely consumed by the onslaught. Merrett maintains composure before lifting the tempo at the halfway mark of this track, paving way for an erratic switch in demeanour. ‘Everything is dreadful/ there must be some kind of escape’. It’s rather loud and ugly, all of the bitterness contained suddenly wreaking havoc on the piece. It is a perfect insertion of rawness, Merrett’s mind becoming more and more exposed as this sonic venture continues.
Stripping back any glimpse of the light comes Warm Springs- a quick jolt back to reality. It’s a looming track, slipping back into the dark to take hold. The vocals are strained, as if fighting to pierce through the heavy soundscape. As droning guitars persist, so does this unceasing assault on the senses. At no point does this track back down. It becomes almost overwhelming and all-consuming. It forms an apt preparation piece for the next track.
God Hold You takes the tension to the next level, rousing instrumentation rapidly reeling the listener in with a seductive hand. The grip becomes insatiable in combination with its sharply tearing riffs, courtesy of JoJo Macari. With its pummelling, industrial charge, the track quickly crafts something grittier than ever. Through mumbled musings of self-loathing and whirling dread, everything soon mounts to crisis point: ‘another, another, another, another, another and…’
“The contrasting elements maintain the feel of something organic and sparse, yet never lacking in insight or frustration. A perfect balance is struck”
This LP masterfully strings together the darkness with admirable intensity. It offers to delve into the deepest caverns of the mind, flashes of sensitivity frequently striking back to offset the abundance of anger and hysteria on display. Moments like this, seen in tracks such as It Goes on Forever and The Destroyer beg for closer inspection from listeners. One piece of advice I can offer when listening to this album is to never let your attention slip away- you’ll likely miss out on something vital. The contrasting elements maintain the feel of something organic and sparse, yet never lacking in insight or frustration. A perfect balance is struck.
Plucky rhythms build from something bright and light to something dense and heavy in 2004. This track plays with contradictory sounds in a masterful manner. The fight provides something unique. Combined with the following Leaving Tottenham, the emotional gravity added to this album starts to become almost nauseating by this late stage. The theatrical elements which peek through are both sickly sweet and haunting.
To close off this LP comes something almost absurd. In Love Will Find A Way, Merrett seems to have finally got his claws onto some fragments of peace. With vocals that sound akin to a more exhausted Lou Reed- if that’s possible- he chuckles and drones his way to some form of relief at long last. ‘Oh I’m just out buying coffee and E-liquid’- with lyrics placing wit and lightness at the forefront, it does become quite laughable. ‘Darling you know the next bit, best learn how to resuscitate a person’- tangled reflections rise to relative cacophony by the conclusion of the piece. I’m not quite sure what to make of the frightening tenderness on display. It feels messy but I like it- I like it a lot. It’s very comforting in its imperfection.
This album flirts with the ludicrous. The sonic palette is both charming and repulsive- and this same notion stands for the themes observed in the narrative of the tracks. Balancing overarching elements of the brittle nature of the human form and identity within an increasingly complex world, there is something new to latch onto with every listen. For each snarled, slurring croon there comes something equally tender and raw. Party Album finds solitude in disarray, its troubled melodies and discordance in instrumentation a testament to the band’s duality and skill for sound. This is a celebration.
Alice Beard
Edited by Alice Beard
Official Party Album cover courtesy of Famous, image 1 courtesy of Matilde Macari, image 2 courtesy of Jack Lovekin, video courtesy of Famous on Youtube
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