Late of the Pier- fantasy black channel.
I love it when I turn on an album first run through and fall in love with the listing six songs down. I hate it however when I try to write a CD review and the words I want to write won’t appear, and the more I think about this mere fact, the more frustrated I become. Only me?
Late Of The Pier’s much sought after debut album “Fantasy black channel” has come during their extensive summer tour of festivals and country alike, following in the craze of electro-funk 70’s rebirth (that was a mouthful) and emo’s demise. Does it offend you, Hadouken! and friendly fires have all released exciting albums in recent times, raising the barrier on upcoming nu rave acts. Late of the Pier probably wouldn’t classify themselves as nu rave, however nor would My chemical Romance Emo, but the genre of music in this instance will soon become irrelevant. LOTP (as they will from here on be known) bring us a wonderous adventure, surrounded and fuelled by illegal substances (no doubt), amongst homegrown hallucinations. Lost? Ditto.
The album opens with a funky pre-stonker instrumental, breaking into an array of electro vibes and fast tempo releases. Broken, Space and the woods and the bears are coming feel fresh but worn, endearing yet unknown. From here onwards, new release heartbeat and my current favourite Focker carry the album through to the final hurdle.
Fantasy black channel does what it says on the tin, creating an adventurous new ideal; pumping from the very word go and continuing throughout. However, the embracing qualities LOTP have are topped by their ability to change and climax song by song, yet create a finale. ‘The enemy are the future’, ‘mad dogs and Englishmen’ and the subtly brilliant ‘Bathroom gurgle’ can at first be perceived as weaker tracks, yet in album context the best. It plays like a cheesy end of night love song, without the cheese or love and brings to a close the dark, inventive and ingenious debut. Daring to pass barriers to extremities, Late of the pier prove their originality will not go unnoticed. Found the words eventually….