Album Review: The Fratellis - 'Half Drunk Under a Full Moon'
Should you only be familiar with ‘Chelsea Dagger’, or be a long time fan of The Fratellis, you’re sure to know the band for their anthemic indie tunes; Whilst their latest album takes a different route in the world of indie, it is still no exception to the fact that The Fratellis continue to release music that pushes boundaries and stays authentic to the direction they want to go in.
With their albums throughout the years, the band have never held back in experimenting, and moving from disco infused ‘In Your Own Sweet Time’ back in 2018 to current release, they’ve managed to present fans with a tracklist that stands out from music they’ve produced before through its theatrical influence.
The album opens with the eponymous track ‘Half Drunk Under a Full Moon,’ which beginning with a cymbal crash and castanets, is flamboyant and playful. Many layered instruments and vocal harmonies add a huge amount of depth to the song, and create a stage like atmosphere as if it was written to be performed for an audience, which is later alluded to through lyrics ‘’If you hear the music say yeah,’’ as if in conversation with a crowd. This energy flows seamlessly into the next track, and latest single up to the album release, ‘Need a Little Love.’ which is contagiously fun, with its trumpets and funky upbeat chorus.
‘Strangers in the Street’ slows things down as we approach the middle of the album, but this does not by any means leave us with a colourless filler track, and instead we are given the opposite. Through its warm escalation of strings and percussion, it’s a high point of emotion for the album, which is similarly replicated in ‘Action Replay.’ The album is then played out with track ‘Hello Stranger,’ which with its slow melodies, brings things to a calming close.
Whilst each song seems to take a slightly different route, the flow of the album remains engaging and is undisrupted, as every track unites under the same shimmery, ostentatious character. The Fratellis remain to surprise with their sound and the different directions they take their music, and ‘Half Drunk under a Full Moon,’ only continued to prove that.
Words by Emily McIntyre