Fang Island, the latest quintet to emerge from Brooklyn, has just released their debut, self-titled album this past February on Sargent House records. The recommendation comes from this guy who draws a comic, and he thinks it’s easily one of the best albums of the year (so far). The band describes their music as “everyone high-fiving everyone… [the] songs are like the music in your head at that moment when everything feels just right: that first kiss, that high score on the video game, buying your first small nation in cash… you know, good stuff.” Although this music has failed to stir any long lost emotions in my probably black heart, I still think it’s pretty good.
Fang Island can initially be quite daunting. After the initial Ratatat-esque intro and soft, harmonized outro of ‘Dream of Dreams’, the album dives into a consistent sound. Anthemic (or at the very least long) guitar riffs mixed with epic harmonizations or chant-like vocals appear on most tracks. The mixture of these, though, can create a pretty intimidating wall of sound. It took me a few tries, but I finally got past this initial sound barrier; now, the more I listen to Fang Island the more I realize how intricate it is, and the more impressed I am by it. Behind the aforementioned initial epic/anthemic/chanting/long veil are snippets of influence from a shopping list of genres from folk to punk, indie-rock to surf-rock to hard-rock, and the list goes on! They retain an emphasis on the guitar for the entire album, but the constant tempo changes (both between, and within) songs makes the album’s progression more interesting.
Fang Island is not background music. There is too much slight variation to have a proper feel for the music without closely listening to it. Impressed as I was, though, I felt that the constant wailing guitar didn’t provide enough substantial variation in the album: it wasn’t until the soothing, slightly synthy Davey Crockett that the album took the chance to relax. ‘Dorian’ wraps up the album with more electronically-influenced sounds (tying the sound back to the beginning, I guess) that don’t really go anywhere, but provide an oddly satisfying conclusion. Fang Island has produced a solid debut album, and I’m excited to see where they’re influenced from, and headed to, next.
The Absolute Place (Chris Keating [Yeasayer] Remix) – Fang Island
Kael
Beitcher
Maurizio
Claire
shnitzore
The New Montreal 
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