Fearl Family - 'Fractured'
Feral Family: Sprawling, doom driven noise-rock with new single ‘Fractured’ and tandem EP ‘Playtest’
East Coast Yorkshire outfit Feral Family has remained consistently on my radar since ‘Smother’ (a colossal and morose headbanger of a single in its own right) found its way on my Discover Weekly. It’s a howling, gloomy noise-rock track. Haunting, silky vocals, reverberating Foals-like melodies atop near My Bloody Valentine levels of distortion, and a hanging, taunting sense of dread, comprise the whole track. It instantly grabbed my attention. If you’re well and truly getting happily lost in that ever-expanding world of British guitar music that’s evolved over the years, you’d do well to add this group to whatever list of worthy bands to keep an eye on you may have.
First, a few words on the newly released ‘Playtest’ EP. More than anything else it solidifies Feral Family’s sonic experimentations present throughout each track. They’ve clearly crafted a sound altogether their own, and it shows. Despite each track on the EP sounding somewhat different from each other stylistically (‘Wee Van Bee’ is a noise-rock homage with Spaghetti Western influences [you’ll know it when you hear it] whereas ‘Cairo’ falls into a more traditional post-Punk / indie-rock influence), you’ll know its Feral Family simply from the sound. The frontman’s vocals are the evident focal point; a rich, wailing and haunted set of performances that move from tender, hurt and pensive in the quieter parts to roaring in the louder, with deftly textured vocal harmonies in some key areas. The guitar work, doubling as tasteful reverb-heavy melodies in those quieter parts, and as concrete walls of cranked fuzz and distortion in the louder areas create a unique, jangly furiousness for the band. Driving it all forward is foreboding bass guitar, sometimes groovy and syncopating, other times a raucous extension of the heavier guitar parts and consistently tight, snappy drums, undergirded with gloomy yet enveloping synth work. An altogether rapturous sound I now wish I could hear live.
‘Fractured’ captures this sense of Feral Family dawning on a sound of their own, albeit with a healthy respect for the influences the band still wears on its sleeves. The track opens with spooky, foreboding vocal and droning synths, which promptly give way to that ever-present snappy drumming, jangly guitar ever reminiscent of The Smiths, The Cure or Joy Division, and angular bass guitar. The drums are fast and steady, a toe-tapping tempo for the guitars to dance to. The vocals emerge, washed in a persistent reverb that seems never-ending. Like the tracks title would suggest, frontman Jamie described the song as a conversation over the complications and fears of witnessing a double-life, a dual existence presented forward that seems confusing, yet ultimately devoid of heart. In this discussion comes the anguished question of either confronting this dual identity, or capitulating to it. It’s a poignant discussion of double identities, a concept ever so prevalent and pervasive in modern culture, in a world of feigned perfection seen in the illusions and trappings of social media. All around this vocal discussion and instrumental work, a different synth line runs through the verses, a spooky horror-movie synth that fits surprisingly well with the other sonic efforts present. The verse breaks into the chorus and the guitars, overdriven now, snake around a now slightly looser drum groove, closely imitating the opening vocal synth line. The vocals, wailing around those instrumentals, consider the question of keeping this dual identity alive, and the consequences that would come from it. It hammers home the dread and gloom that this song, and indeed the EP, encapsulates.
There’s a sense of Feral Family having bottled lightning with this EP. For the band to have released their first EP with such an ear-catching, danceable and consistently original sound, is something that should keep them in rotation on those merits alone. There’s a maturity and seriousness to ‘Fractured’ that speaks to the larger weight and merit of the ‘Playtest’ EP, and if Feral Family continue down this line of musical experimentation, I can see only positive things for them in the future. Keep a keen ear out for them.
Words by Harry Meenagh
