Quick Before it Melts

Tuesday 29 March 2011

If the shoe fits

If I had never been exposed to Fucked Up through the Polaris Music Prize, then I highly doubt I ever have taken interest in their new album, let alone one that’s being billed as a “rock opera”.

But that’s the great thing about Polaris, isn’t it?  Aside from the money and prestige of winning, the Polaris Music Prize has always set out to showcase Canadian music talent and celebrate the lost art of the long player album.  In it’s half-decade existence, Polaris has turned not just a critical eye, but a celebratory one towards homegrown music, giving many artists the opportunity to reach audiences in communities they might never otherwise reach.

So yeah, Fucked Up have a new album coming out, and it’s a rock opera titled David Comes to Life, about a British guy named David who works in a lightbulb factory who falls in love with an activist who dies during an accident (isn’t that always the way?).  David goes on trial for causing the accident, and is prosecuted by a guy who secretly loved the activist too, and all sorts of shenanigans break out.  Pretty heady sounding stuff.  Apparently, the band has been thinking about this concept for about five years, and have amassed a whole heap of support material for the record: they’re even planning to release a compilation album of fictitious bands from David’s fictitious town for Record Store Day.

The first single, “The Other Shoe” is available for your perusal now.  It’s far more pop-leaning than I ever expected Fucked Up to sound, even with Damian Abraham’s growling shouts alongside the smooth and sultry female vocals.  It certainly appeals to that indie-pop/rock side of me, but I’m equally titillated by the sandpaper rough juxtaposition of Fucked Up’s ready-for-a-rumble sound.  The next three singles are already scheduled for release: “A Slanted Tone”, out April 15, “Ship of Fools”, out April 26, and “One More Night”, out May 3.

MP3: Fucked Up “The Other Shoe”

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by J. Di Gioia | No Comments »

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 29th, 2011 at 8:35 am and is filed under MP3. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.