Our weekly fix of the best new music as Julia Mason (aka The Decibel Decoder) brings us her reviews of new music with singles from Fake Fruit Mucho Mistrust and Ain't Oar
Artist: Fake Fruit
Track: Mucho Mistrust
The Californian based post-punk outfit Fake Fruit announce their new album Mucho Mistrust set for release on 23 August via Carpark Records, and to celebrate have released the title track as their new single.
The band share the title is a sly reference to a Blondie lyric which encapsulates both the anxieties of daily life, a bloodless music industry, and global capitalism plus the clear-eyed scepticism needed to rebel against it.
The trio of Hannah “Ham” D’Amato, Alex Post & Miles MacDiarmid have produced a track with a touch of The Beths about it. The off-kilter beats are light at the outset, perfectly complementing the lead vocals of Ham. However it's not long before the frustrations boil over with the increasingly edgy guitars and Ham bemoaning: “How you gonna blame me when you could’ve done something about it? It’s not right. How you gonna marinate me in shitty things overnight?”
The song was written during a turbulent and transformational period for Ham, and this personal upheaval was channelled into the track:“There were big life changes and I was so close to boiling over. I left a bad relationship, entered a more stable and loving one, got diagnosed with alopecia, and I'm turning 30 soon too. This song was a snapshot of how I got through a difficult year.”
Do check out the video which was directed and edited by Jimmy Whispers. It’s a tongue-in-cheek parody of televangelism, featuring MacDiarmid as a TV pastor in devil makeup and D’Amato as a guardian Angel to an older woman (played by her own grandmother).
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Artist: Ain't
Track: Oar
London five-piece Ain’t release their debut single Oar on the back of a growing reputation from their live shows. They blend ‘90s guitar, post-punk, and shoegaze and new single Oar was written during the pandemic. It proclaims the frustrations that stem from losing faith in those in charge.
Recorded with Oli Barton Wood (Porridge Radio, Shame, The Big Moon), the track opens with crisp guitars. Hanna Baker Darch's vocals take twists and turns combining with the meandering soundscape. The track ebbs and flows moving between shoegaze contemplation to a darker mood reflecting the frustration and anger generated by apathy and fickle governance - “when the promises come unstuck, I’m left to steady the oar.”
Ain’t is completed by George Ellerby (guitar/vox), Ed Randall (guitar), (Vox), Chapman Ho (bass), and Joe Lockstone (drums), and speaking on the single, the band shares: “Oar was originally drafted by George in the pandemic and was driven by the lack faith of those in charge. After joining the band, Hanna reinterpreted the lyrics to be loosely inspired by the legend of Llys Helig, she incorporates imagery from medieval Wales to the themes of irreparable disaster.”
Ain’t live dates
25 May – The Victoria, London
28 May - So Young at The Social, London
08 Aug – Rough Trade Recommends at Rough Trade East, London
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