NEW FOR RECORD STORE DAY 2013!
Bellyache Records is proud to announce a BRAND NEW 4 way split 7” release from FLINT EASTWOOD, THE HOUNDS BELOW, FUR & FAWN! Released exclusively in celebration of RSD 2013 (Saturday, April 20th!), this record highlights some fantastic new music from some of Michigan’s finest! 500 copies were pressed on black vinyl, features 4 exclusive new tracks, includes download codes and features colorful artwork by Annette Barbara.
With Image on the Reverse, this group from the Motor City has released a powerful full-length album. Although it is different than their previous efforts, FUR has striven to a level of sonic maturity that is unmatched. With a distorted intensity this record grabs you and forces you to not only listen but ponder on why you ever settled for anything less; that is something music tends not to do in this day and age.
FUR has mastered the art of vocal and instrumental layering. They combine synthesizers with ambient guitars over top an intense and perfectly infrequent rhythm section. The guitar on the record is often played with a quiet humility to the synthesizer, that is something of a rarity. Image on the Reverse provides a scope in songwriting that is not only impressive, but refreshing.
“Another Satellite” is an obvious for a lead single with a potent vocal melody over heavy synth, bringing a surprisingly radio-friendly composition. “I Want to Let You Down” shows the grit this band can unleash. The tune showcases sparsely, quick-handed drumming alongside a ferocious guitar, with a stringent bass-line providing a sturdy skeleton. While “Thrill Kiss” provides us with the album’s namesake and is sonically similar to a post-Achtung Baby U2 (I mean that in the most complimenting manner possible). Each and every track on this release has its own personal flare.
FUR is a dark, impressive, and skilled band that should make you proud Michigan. Image on the Reverse is a noteworthy release that deserves equally noteworthy attention, and I believe it will find it.
This high-octane, almost comic-strip, high vitamin enriched delivery from Detroit band Fur is what you need in the morning to get you back into the swing of life, While this isn’t an album that’s going to make you think philosophically about any revolts or revolutions, it is an album that will make you imagine, and they are the kind of band who will arouse the belief of the fans who find them. ‘Irreversible’ is a superb opener – the sound, paradoxically, is almost as if The Wonderstuff drive in one end of a tunnel, Muse the other end, and out the end of your choosing there then emerges, blazing, without any of the whimsicality those two bands respectively, Fur; curious and fantastical.
‘I Want To Let You Down’ is an accomplished piece of beautiful urbanity on electric guitar, breezing through with true raucousness. ‘Sunshine’ is one of those tracks that is so clearly an album piece that it will probably never be paid a great deal of attention, but it’s a true reward for the faith you invest in them. These tracks, and others (especially ‘The Fiction’) have exactly the right amount of rawness for a band who sound like a more authentic incarnation, in a parallel world, of those bands like The Darkness who steer towards these same musical directions.
I hope they stay this way, they might not of course but they do engender that hope. Lyrically energetic and innovative instances are fairly common here too, and well-placed, although not always decipherable “Attach the strings around my heart, and then a violin pulls it out” would be a great line if that is indeed what is sung on the Cult-ish ‘Irreversible’. Compliments to the lead singer who sounds like he’s eaten something inedible but pure.
Free download: ‘Irreversible’ (Right click, save as)
Fur’s website
Stream or buy the album
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Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s selection, featured on the Morning Show with John Richards, is “Irreversible” by Fur, from the 2012 self-released album Image On The Reverse.
Fur – Irreversible (MP3)
Combining the dark, immediate conviction of With Teeth-era Nine Inch Nails with the frantic turmoil of Turn on The Bright Lights-era Interpol, Detroit’s Fur is adept at channeling both the Motor City’s metallic chill and the Big Apple’s midnight noir into hook-laden bangers. On stage, the band illuminates their otherwise-dark stage with dimly-lit, older model televisions, the image of which effectively embodies their darkly alluring and industrial-meets-emotional sounds. The opening track on the album, “Irreversible” wastes no time bursting out of the gate with pulsing sharp guitar riffs and a driving rhythm section. Coupled with Johanna Champagne’s mood-setting keyboard tones, singer Ryan O’Rourke’s magnetic, distorted vocal quivers with a caustic intensity as the band increases the song’s ferocity, only to cut out suddenly to a dead silence. After a few disarming seconds though, they’re back with a vengeance, raving up their instruments to a dark, tumultuous tempest until they suddenly cut out again à la How To Destroy Angels’”The Loop Closes“. Thanks to their propulsive rhythm and O’Rourke’s gripping performance, Fur have accomplished something few bands can pull off – a song that’s as dance-friendly as it is mosh-friendly.
Fur doesn’t have any dates booked at the moment, but keep an eye on their Bandcamp and website for more updates. Watch the image-heavy, performance-less video for “Irreversible” below.
FUR – Another Satellite from Cabin 44 on Vimeo.
By MT Staff
Published: January 2, 2013
It’s that time of year again. It’s the moment when we pick our favorite music of 2012. Don’t be so cynical! It’s more than just a lazy, year-end exercise to pad out a paper over the holidays! It’s an opportunity to look back through our notebooks and iPods and see what grabbed us this year and wouldn’t let go — and a chance to put into words our favorite tunes of a year now frozen in time. On with the top 10s!
Brett Callwood
1) Fur – Image on the Reverse
Atmospheric, charismatic gothy indie rock from a band that refuses to stand still. A career highlight that will prove tough to top.
2) Katie Grace – Best Bad Girl
She might not be an outlaw, but Grace is no altar girl either. Her tunes inspire thoughts of drinking and debauchery, though there are occasional moments of painful clarity too.
3) Julian Paaige – Dismal Ditty
Like Lou Reed meets John Cooper Clarke, Paaige stands alone at the mic and rattles off punk poetry, looking mildly awkward but always oddly cool.
4) The Ruiners – Shake, Rattle & Moan
The album that the sleaze rockers have been threatening to unleash, this one finally captures the manic live energy.
5) Johnnie Bassett – I Can Make That Happen
Sadly, Bassett’s swan song. We’ll miss the blues legend, and that fact that he bows out with a song like “Proud to be from Detroit” is appropriate.
6) Kickstand Band – Kitty Cat Sessions
This was a big year for these guys, who have played just about every festival and pulled in a ton of fans. Thankfully, their album didn’t let them down.
7) The Blueflowers – Stealing the Moon
Maybe not quite as good as their last album, the third Blueflowers full-lengther is still beautiful, honest and kinda heart-breaking.
Dune Buggy Attack Battalion – Ypsidelica
Garage rock for the sake of garage rock, these guys came out with a great album title to match a great album.
9) Writhing – Indomitable
We were delighted to discover a quality death metal band in Detroit, and these guys are pure evil. The lyrics are vile, the vocals are indecipherable, and your parents will hate it.
10) Johnny Headband – Who Cooks for You
The insanity is only matched by the hooks on this album, which sees all genres collide head-on. To call it dance-punk-rock doesn’t do it justice.
Quick Picks: 5 Tasty Jams You MUST Hear
We Are The Physics- Goran Ivanisevic The Fallows- Shoot Your Gun Toucan- Mr Television WTCHS- Adult Crimes Fur- Another Satellite
FUR’s debut full-length, Image on the Reverse has been a long time coming but it was absolutely well-worth the wait. This album is something of a masterpiece, from the opening “Irreversible” with it’s layered vocals and monstrous riffs and huge drumming, through to the very last track. Any notions that FUR is a wimpy band for bedroom Cure fans only is brushed aside here. There are delicate moments, sure, but this album sees FUR wake the fuck up and kick some ass. As we enter December, FUR have just thrown in a good shout for “album of the year.”