When Fat Freddy’s
Drop release a new album, people stand up and take notice because it is a rare
thing. After all in their fourteen years of existence (has it been that long?) they
have only released three studio albums, the third being their latest offering Blackbird, which is also their first in four years. Part of the reason for
this is because the band are relentless tourists and spend most of the time on
the road where they have a large and enthusiastic following especially in Europe.
With this being the case, they don’t always have the time to record, and often
recording sessions will be stop-start affairs fitted in around their live
commitments. Fat Freddy’s hybrid/fusion style of roots music containing
elements of reggae, dub, jazz, soul, rhythm and blues, and techno is made for
live performance, and in fact the songs on their albums often start as
improvised jam sessions in the studio, or on stage and only grow into actual
songs as they evolve over time. The material on Blackbird is a case in point, with the tracks developed in the
studio and on tour over two and a half years or so, whilst being refined and
added to in the process.
The sound achieved on
Blackbird I feel is the bands most
wide ranging and diverse yet, representing a sonic like music space (without
sounding too pretentious) expanding in all directions and drawing on all sorts
of influences. Soul, rhythm and blues, funk, and jazz influences come to the
fore throughout this album, especially on the first half, while techno
dominates on the last few tracks. On the first half of the album, many of the
tracks contain extended improvised jam sections that includes funky guitar, soulful
70s horns, and a banging rhythm section. Songs in this category include the
epic opener “Blackbird” which comes in at over nine minutes, the soul/R&B
influenced “Clean the House”, and the mid 1970s Stevie Wonder like “Bones”. With
an emphasis on extended jam sessions it is no surprise that most of the songs on
the album come in at the seven to nine minute range, with the band also having
stated that on this album they tried to replicate their live sound as closely as
possible. Techno like influences feature significantly on the last few tracks.
Although techno is not really my cup of tea, I did like the tracks “Mother
Mother” which fuses techno with a splattering of R&B horns and soulful
vocals, and the album closer “Bohannon”, a seven minute techno driven track
that will no doubt get the remixed treatment and find its way into clubs very
soon.
I’m going to go out
on a limb here and say in my humble opinion I feel this is Fat Freddy’s Drop’s
best album yet, and my favourite of their three studio releases. I say this as
I feel it is quite a consistent record musically speaking right across the board
from track to track, more so than their previous two albums which although had
some really good songs on them I felt were more patchier in places. Overall I
found Blackbird to be a thoroughly
enjoyable listen, partly because I am a massive soul/jazz/R&B fan and there
is a lot of that going on here, but also interesting when those techno elements
come in to play, especially in combination with those other styles. Core Fat
Freddy’s Drop fans should enjoy this album as it retains their traditional
rootsy sound in combination with other influences. But I also feel this album
could help attract new fans as there is enough going on here musically across
the whole album to draw in the listener’s attention and keep them interested throughout.
A definite must have album.
A-/A
- Sam
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