Fucked Up - David Comes To Life

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5...according to our Mike on Thu 02 Jun, 2011.

Wow, 15 minutes into this record I'm still kinda speechless. This is some ambitious shit right here, but I guess that shouldn't surprise you too much from these guys, since their records seem to get more epic with each successive release. After a certain amount of crossover success with their last album, this time they've gone the whole hog and made an 80-minute rock opera. In a nutshell it seems to be about a character David (presumably the one to which their recent weird 'David's Town' release referred) who lives in a British town and is involved in a tragic love affair, but there's a lot more to it than that and I feel like if I try to unravel it here I'll just make myself look ignorant because it's pretty sprawling and articulate. Musically I'd say the most notable thing about this release is that it's not as frantically paced as previous FU releases - there's pretty regular use of female vocals which gives it a kind of shoegazey feel in places, especially with the density of their three-guitar attack over it. In parts there's a real Springsteen thing going on, but it's rarely embarrassing like all those mystifyingly successful current US bands' takes on the Boss's style. There's some definite melodrama in places, though, and in places it does go a bit My Chemical Romance-for-grown-ups. I'm not sure if I mean that in a bad way or not. Both I guess. There's moments that seem really heavily influenced by the British psych-pop of the '60s and '70s, too, but always with Pink Eyes rasping and barking over the top. To be honest it's really refreshing to hear those kind of references from a band that's not just peddling your bogstandard twee indie pop. There's something I'm finding very soothing about this record, it seems like something you'd listen to while you kicked back at home on a summer afternoon with all the doors and windows wide open, you know? It's got all those elements of heaviness that you expect from Fucked Up but I think more than ever they're coming across as totally unhurried and self-assured. I saw them live a couple of weeks back and they totally cranked it up a notch, none of the sloppiness and fuck ups that characterised their earlier shows, just total epic power and energy. With gigs like that and an album like this, it seems like the moment where these guys really become big hitters.

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The rock opera: the final word in decadent capitalist-pig rock. The kind of tediously long, navel-gazing fodder from which faded rock dictators cling onto power by their filthy fingernails. Breaking with rank unsurprisingly, then, come Fucked Up, one of the most vital punk bands around and people who aren’t scared of a challenge.

Following up their Polaris Prize winning breakthrough, ‘The Chemistry Of Common Life’, their third album ‘David Comes To Life’ is no less monumental. Split across four acts, it sees increased female vocals work in perfect contrast to Damian Abraham's wounded bull growl. The band, meanwhile, provide more space for the flourishes and imaginative song-writing that entwine their love of fey British indie pop with heavy riffing, amidst some genuinely twisted turns. Perhaps most grippingly, the triple-guitar interplay between Mike Haliechuk, Josh Zucker and Ben Cook has risen to symphonic levels. Together, they channel the energy of musicians ranging from Angus Young, Pete Townshend and Noel Gallagher, to Bob Stinson and Lyle Preslar, displaying a consummate ease and ferocity.

Then there comes the story that ties it together: ‘David Comes To Life’ appears to be a parable of lost love, global meltdown, depression, war, guilt and madness. Or is it? A modern day morality tale set to the dour backdrop of a British industrial town in the late 70s, the narrative follows the dark moods and inner psyche of its titular hero. At the same time, the reliability of the narrator is called into question, the tables are turned, responsibility shifts, and the story takes on a meta twist. It’s a fantastically complex concept that somehow works as a coherent narrative, while the mind-altering subject matter sits perfectly with the intense music.

Of course, you could always ignore the back-story and instead listen to a fiercely imaginative, powerful 78 minutes of blistering, melodic rock ‘n’ roll, crossed with all manners of psychic weirdness.

Tracklisting:

1. Let Her Rest
2. Queen Of Hearts
3. Under My Nose
4. The Other Shoe
5. Turn The Season
6. Running On Nothing
7. Remember My Name
8. A Slanted Tone
9. Serve Me Right
10. Truth I Know
11. Life In Paper
12. Ship Of Fools
13. A Little Death
14. I Was There
15. Inside A Frame
16. The Recursive Girl
17. One More Night
18. Act I
19. Act II
20. Act III
21. Act IV