I’ve been following the progress of Late of the Pier for some time, after getting extremely excited about the ‘Zarcorp’ demos that were doing the rounds some time ago. Summer 2008 sees Late of the Pier release their debut album produced by the man everybody wants to work with; Erol Alkan. When I first heard Late of the Pier I thought they’d maybe be one of those bands that have a couple of really good singles and then make a rushed poor album. Thankfully I was very, very wrong because they have plenty of impressive singles along with other just as impressive songs on ‘Fantasy Black Channel’.
‘Hot Tent Blues’ is the perfect Late of the Pier intro into this album and moves smoothly into ‘Broken’. Which is just as good as I remember the demo being, if not better. Sometimes it’s hard for a band to re-record a song and get the same energy as the demos but ‘Broken’ is definitely an example of a song re-recorded perfectly.
Singles ‘Space And The Woods’ and ‘The Bears Are Coming’ appear next on the album and they are as good as I remember them. “Suicide is in my blood, it always was” sings lead singer Samuel Eastgate on ‘Space And The Woods’ which was the bands previous single. ‘The Bears Are Coming’ sums up the Late of the Pier sound, which is pretty unique combining many styles and providing pretty odd lyrics.
New single ‘Heartbeat’ formally known as: ‘A Heartbeat. A Flicker. A Line’ and has now got a very 80’s sounding intro to it (thanks to Erol Alkan me thinks). However it still has that Late of the Pier sound and some really intriguing lyrics; “pineapple pieces in brine, fucking around with your mind” immediately come to mind.
One of my favourite songs from the demos was always ‘Random Firl’ and now with added lyrics it is 2 minutes 14 seconds of electronic heaven. The end of the album ends just as strongly as the beginning of the album with songs such as ‘Bathroom Gurgle’, ‘Focker’, ‘VW’ and ‘Whitesnake’ all as good as the already mentioned songs.
Overall ‘Fantasy Black Channel’ has many, many high points and no low points. This is the record you stick on when you want to step away from reality, thumbs up Late of the Pier.
8.5/10
‘Hot Tent Blues’ is the perfect Late of the Pier intro into this album and moves smoothly into ‘Broken’. Which is just as good as I remember the demo being, if not better. Sometimes it’s hard for a band to re-record a song and get the same energy as the demos but ‘Broken’ is definitely an example of a song re-recorded perfectly.
Singles ‘Space And The Woods’ and ‘The Bears Are Coming’ appear next on the album and they are as good as I remember them. “Suicide is in my blood, it always was” sings lead singer Samuel Eastgate on ‘Space And The Woods’ which was the bands previous single. ‘The Bears Are Coming’ sums up the Late of the Pier sound, which is pretty unique combining many styles and providing pretty odd lyrics.
New single ‘Heartbeat’ formally known as: ‘A Heartbeat. A Flicker. A Line’ and has now got a very 80’s sounding intro to it (thanks to Erol Alkan me thinks). However it still has that Late of the Pier sound and some really intriguing lyrics; “pineapple pieces in brine, fucking around with your mind” immediately come to mind.
One of my favourite songs from the demos was always ‘Random Firl’ and now with added lyrics it is 2 minutes 14 seconds of electronic heaven. The end of the album ends just as strongly as the beginning of the album with songs such as ‘Bathroom Gurgle’, ‘Focker’, ‘VW’ and ‘Whitesnake’ all as good as the already mentioned songs.
Overall ‘Fantasy Black Channel’ has many, many high points and no low points. This is the record you stick on when you want to step away from reality, thumbs up Late of the Pier.
8.5/10
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