Fret
Black Slander (self-released)
All fairly unpromising, from the hand-drawn sleeve (it looks like a demo) to the Aussie roots – an accent which doesn’t really lend itself to muted, threatening tones. But there’s something about this. Actually, many things. 13 of them. The first – of the 13 tracks if you get my drift – is ‘Still’ and contains the aforementioned vocals. Kind of Tindersticks-y blended with Scots postpunk a la FK9. Though with that nasal accent which, let’s face it, I may have a task getting my head around.
Thing #2: ‘Pilot Episode’. NOW they’re off on a tangent, a spoken word piece with detective theme wah-wah – think Was (not Was) or Barry Adamson). It’s good. ‘Seven Minutes To Enmore’ is a not unpleasant post-punk guitar workout, which could at a stretch be compared to Wah! Heat, but that’d be stretching it for the wrong reasons, more a lo-fi REM verging on the gothic aspirations of Danse Society (and yes, I am fully aware that Fret’s five members will most likely have never come across many of the acts namechecked in this review for reasons of either geography or youth. Or good fortune, in the case of Danse Society.
Next; ’Coffee Bean’. Pleasant little guitar instrumental with rhythm unit. No real reason to exist though it does contain the line “Do I detect an acrobat Eskimo rolling on its back”. ‘Kingdom of the Cover Up’ sees Fret conspiracy theorising in a Alamaba 3-style rap. ‘Spinifex’ is a rhythm unit (again) with a surf guitar hook , which could to be fair have lasted more than the minute or so it does. ‘Kill For a Coffee’ – again, they’ve run out of genres by this point, more film noir a la ‘Pilot Episode’.
Ok, this was a bad idea as this review is getting out of control and they’re not out of genres yet – admittedly ‘Toboy’ sounds like someone eating crisps, but ‘Kill For a Coffee’ is a stop-start effort which tries to take doomy slow gothrock and some double-speed punk by alternate lines.
It gets a bit indie-rock for the last few numbers, you should know. Nowt wrong in that. Actually, strike that, ‘Island State’ is a slow strummy folky number that could happily wind down a Fence weekend. And Yvette’s Lament is a maudlin piece of steel guitar work, as Fret keep us guessing. Try them at if you don’t believe me.
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Calum Craig
