Lungfish
I’ve got a few reviews penned in and cooking away at the moment that I’ll get up soon. In the meantime however I wanted to mention a band who I have re-discovered recently: ‘Lungfish’. Lungfish are a Baltimore post-hardcore band signed to Dischord Records. The first song I heard by the band was ‘Unfold the Leg’ and at the time my reaction was positive, but – and I’m sure we’ve all had this – you find a good band and then forget to follow them up for whatever reason. Well, that’s what happened to me so for a while now I have been listening to their material and getting into them. The band - from what I can gather - come back together every now and again to record an album (their most recent being Feral Hymns I think) and between those times each of the members has pursued various solo projects that have gained a strong underground following. I think the best known of these is the frontman and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Higgs who a very..very cool man.
Anyway, Lungfish are important and worth listening to because they are still clever and original beyond their time –and in saying that I am including the range of boring lo-fi/high-brow electronic artists that have come out in recent years. Musically the band are very stripped down, they put together a very strong and melodious section (listen to the excellent ‘Fearfully and Wonderfully’ here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et9K-74SN4k) and what I find so impressive about this is the sheer power of these grooves – I can’t help but be caught up in the sound. To me - I’ll use ‘Fearfully and Wonderfully’ as a case example- this sound is incredibly genuine and strong, it encapsulates a feeling of honestly and realness – the production is gritty and strait forward – it’s not like hearing a compressed r&b record, its visceral! (if I get any more pretentious I’ll hit myself). It is such a definitive unique sound though – like with The Fall – Lungfish sound very little like anything else. However, Higg’s vocals are the real star of the show and only roughly follow the template of song writing because it’s a lot more poetic that that I think. Higg’s voice is quite nasal and anxty (not Grandfather style, good as that it, but near) this element has caused the band to gain the label ‘emo’ in addition to post-hardcore and experimental but really, the lyrics go a lot deeper than any irritating, whiney emo song about feelings and all that (I love the Swing Kids btw – I just don’t like what emo turned into). It has often been said that John Darnielle is one of the best lyricists since Bob Dylan not to be involved in hip-hop, but, whilst Darnielle is amazing – Higgs in my avg opinion is just as good and severely underrated, his stuff is quite neurotic in places, it is quite dark, but the strength of his craft is undeniable. SO, I highly recommend this band if you are not already slightly obsessed with them.
Good albums to listen to are: ‘Talking Songs for Walking’, ‘Sound in Time’, ‘The Unanimous Hour’ and ‘Love is Love’. Although I would suggest that you take it slowly because there’s plenty to take in from Lungfish.