Pass unscathed from the state of cult band to special observers of the press it is not easy, even more complex to cope with the abandonment of one of the most imaginative and intelligent pens of the current scene, Saul Adamczewski, as well as to find one's own space within a more complex recording reality.
Despite everything, with the album “Serfs Up”, which marked the move to Domino Records, the Fat White Family band found the right alchemy between political content and musical creativity, laying the foundations for a triumphant career.
Five years after Adamczewki's definitive abandonment and the difficulties caused by the pandemic have slowed down the momentum of the English team. What remains today is a confused and tired band: the already known creative fragmentation has lost its charm and irreverence, the lyrics are devoid of the verve of their best days, and the album title almost seems like a request for forgiveness on the part of Lias Saoudi and companions.
A lot of craftsmanship and fleeting residues of unpredictability keep the listener alert and give a couple of songs decidedly above average: the dissonant melancholy of “Religion For One” and the overwhelming groove of “Today You Become Man”, on which Saoudi performs in tones crooner one of the most powerful lyrics on the album.
Unfortunately, the rest of the album only works on paper. The faux-transgressive variation of “Águas De Março” that animates “Visions Of Pain” is quite importunate, the fragile mystical folk with Serge Gainsbourg-like suggestions of “John Lennon” is quickly dismissed without giving any shock, the cloying “You Can't Force It” lacks the necessary irony to convince, and the almost successful mess disco rock of “Bullet Of Dignity” offers a glimpse of what “Forgiveness Is Yours” could have been but isn't.
The single “Work” and the excellent “What's That You Say” are the two tracks that are definitely the most captivating but also the most predictable and mainstreamtwo songs that highlight further negative elements, namely the lack of something new vocalist worthy of replacing Saul Adamczewki and the forced recourse to recitation which indulges Saoudi's recent literary passions without convincing.
Fat White Family's fourth album has all the hallmarks of a transitional work. The future of the band, however, is very uncertain and not very reassuring, after all, Saul's definitive abandonment seems to have been caused by the latter's intention to shift the axis towards experimentation and the avant-garde, and the choice to descend in the arms of electronic pop finally forces us to ask a question: do we need a faux-transgressive version of an electro-pop band? Is Saoudi's nihilism a simple strategic gimmick? Do we need another Fat White Family album?
04/05/2024
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
