It's hard to categorize female-fronted, Fat Shadow. They blend a mix of indie-rock with late 60s-psychedelia, while bleeding over into punk-rock as well. They do a pretty fine job of it, no doubt. The band's debut full length, Foot of Love, is bringing back a sound and tweaking it into something quite satisfying.
The first half of the album is new stuff, while the second half showed up on Fat Shadow's demo the previous year. They open the album with, "Waves." It hits you with the sounds reminiscent of Summer until vocalist, Daun Fields, jumps in with beautiful vocals channeling Carly Simon. The track's a tidy bouquet of time signatures. The following track, "Haven," slows things down before picking up the pace on, "Water's Edge." It's got a moody and melodious opening, but then all the punk influences of the members' other projects pull together for an aggressive track, while maintaining Fields' clean vocals. Fat Shadow break out the hooks on "Feelers." It has surf-rock vibe to it, and even ends with a breezy set of "oohs" that you could find yourself humming on the beach.
The next five tracks are the re-recordings of the songs from their 2010 demo. The first is "Call the Corners." It features some of Fields' strongest vocals on the album and brings the bass to the forefront a little more--essentially carrying the song. There's another strong performance from Fields in "Sages," but it's too slow for my taste. I prefer the brooding and more melodic tones of tracks like, "Number," which contains an unsuspecting chorus compared to its heavily distorted verse. Fat Shadow lose me with the following tracks, "New Armor" and "Sure Thing." Neither song has much to offer--acting more as filler and background music. The band would have been better off writing two more songs for the album as opposed to re-recording these two. Fortunately, Foot of Love's closer, "Black Cassette," wakes me up and catches my attention again. The track seems to take steps away from the rest of the album, which is perhaps a glimpse at what's to come from in the future. Field's vocals even sound a little out of its usual timbre from the rest of the record. Despite it's best efforts, it's not the most exciting song, but far stronger than it's predecessors.
Fat Shadow have made their way onto my radar, and I'll certainly be following them closely. All the right elements are there, and if Foot of Love is any indication, they could go on to do some great things and bring something fresh to punk music. I'll anxiously be awaiting for more.
