Kaleidoscopic new wave underground rock…
Musically, the best things to come out of Switzerland are the alternative Punk band, The Side Project, and the Hard Rockers, Gotthard, however with Josef Of The Fountain we have a band that has a completely different sound. In fact this is a sound that could easily have come from England in the 1980’s, as a mixture of The Jam and David Bowie…
Lead singer Paddy, who I’m told has Irish and English parents, certainly give the band the English sound, however musically there is something that is slightly underground about the Mod-Rock soundtrack. First song, ‘This Is The Police’ has a sound that is an explosion of The Jam and Public Image Inc. The slight echo in the vocals and the off-melodic guitars jangling to a solid drum beat and the comfy bounce of bass, all come together bringing forth a stripped down professional sound. Next song, ‘Olympico’ doesn’t fall to far away from the opening track, although evolves the sound slightly more into the vein of contemporary Indie-Rock.
‘Her Mysteriously The Queen’ is the marriage of Paul Weller and David Bowie if they were to join together. Panda’s bass jumps around whilst the twin guitars dual for melodic harmony perfectly. The next song, ‘Fight The Blind’ breaks away slightly from the others being slightly more dark in the verse with a marching drum beat before the chorus kicks in. There is a mixture of Bowie and The Killers here, this is then followed nicely by title track ‘1101 Lighthouse’ which seems like a natural step evolving from the song before. The last song here is simply called, ‘A Classic!’ which I can only assume is a tongue-in-cheek title, and not a egotistical premonition. It is upbeat and certainly grows on you, although not quite as catchy as the opening track, it is a wonderful way to close the CD.
Josef Of The Fountain are a mixture of contemporary Indie and the underground rock on the early 80’s with a slash of New Wave. It’s certainly not something that you’d expect from Switzerland, but here in Blightly there could certainly be a fan base. Mix up The Killers, with some Arctic Monkeys. Add a large dollop of The Jam and sprinkle with some Bowie stardust and this is what you might get. Not bad.