Fade to Sepia
Fade to Sepia are an unsigned three piece from Birmingham, this CD a four track snippet of their recent live studio recordings with Matt Terry. Following the "underground success" of last years release 'Situation Hopeless but Not Serious', the boys aim to capture the "rawness and energy of the live set".
Naming influences Joy Division, The Fall and The Wipers, Fade to Sepia are treading into a post-punk field, more often than not challenged; which ultimately regrettably lets them down. They have been playing together since early 2005 and the tightness shows, but the quality of not necessarily the sound, but the music is a big downfall.
You nearly want to pick the band up and say right; the potential is definitely there, but let's make a few changes. It's almost similar to a renovation project gone wrong. Buying an old church and destroying its original features perhaps, merely because whoever took them on forgot to tick the checklist. But then that's it. Nobody has taken them on and for me, the words hallelujah for no record company spring to mind. Which is why it's such a disappointment. I wanted to like them a lot. I wanted to be able to promote a good band that are making it without a label, giving out good music without promotion, or anything company like and actually getting recognised. But this is a case of naïve marketing. Live performances are never as clear cut as a studio version of a track and it's difficult to make the comparison between Fade to Sepia and a band whom have used the studio facilities to their advantage.
The first two tracks kind of sound the same, with the vocals letting them down and the need for another guitar or any type of instrument becoming increasingly evident as the sample continues. Three piece bands work in the form of We Are Scientists, hot new tip The Wombats, The Noisettes and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Fade to Sepia aren't like any of these individual, comical in the first two forms and diva-esque in the latter acts, proving that unless Busted are all they aspire to be better than, three piece is not the way to go for these guys. This unfortunately tells through their music- back to the drawing board perhaps?