How? I don’t quite know (you could say I have No Idea). But what I do know is that Fay Wray have put out my favourite punk album in quite some time. What they are doing different – not sure. What they are doing right – pretty much everything.
For starters, it’s only 27 minutes long, and there are 12 songs, which instantly buys favour. And then you get the ‘Wrays style, which is quite rangey. Most of the time they are kicking out totally melodic, yet slightly raw, buzzing punk rock with the whole sound that seems to be associated with the coolest No Idea bands (HWM, Clairmel, PUKU13). The singer is great, really rather original sounding and equally adept at shouting, doing funny voices and singing too. I’ve seen it described as indie punk in a couple of places, not quite certain of that myself. Maybe it’s because they are tuneful without being *too* pop. Dunno. Occasional touches make me think of the Dillinger 4 when they go all crunchy and anthemic, pounding the drums and ripping out killer riffs. They even get hardcore on the blasting “Potpie”. Best track though is the noisy “Baywatch” where the singer gets across the lyrics in a brilliantly crazed style on a song that appears to be about being driven nuts by how bad television is.
Lyrically they often hit the right spot, personal and cool with it. Which I guess covers about everything. If you like punk rock with tunes but would prefer less pop, then Fay Wray is for you. I can’t think of any King Kong jokes.