Anticipating their debut album, the double A-side is a reminder of their unique blend of complexity and pop straightforwardness.
Photo: Jack Lovekin | Words: Lloyd Bolton
Making their long-awaited return, Famous are back with a new Double-A side to announce their debut LP, ‘Party Album.’ This follows on from their two outstanding EPs, the most recent of which, ‘The Valley,’ came out back in 2021.
‘God Hold You’ announces itself with a splintered metallic guitar intro. This kind of industrial abrasive style is distinctive of the band, whose music often seems to transcend the instruments with which it was made. The instrumentation here is all about rhythm, a relentless, chugging backdrop to Jack Merret’s low emotional croaking vocals, obscured by the noise in an evocative manner reminiscent of their earlier track ‘Animals.’
‘It Goes On Forever’ is a little more traditional, though there is something disquieting about its warped echoes of more conventional music. The track opens with a cinematic darkness reminiscent of Ethan P. Flynn’s recent album. Here, Merret’s delivery comes into its own, capturing the mystery and interior terror suggested in snatches of lyrics about driving around “with blood on my nose” and sitting “back in the house with two sheets of fentanyl.” This scene-setting comes before the song opens out into a lucidly strung out chorus: “Oh my God, What the fuck is happening?” The beauty of Famous is often found in this willingness to express feelings so directly, so bewildered. Suddenly, the song takes on a more earnest character as Merret croons, “The first time’s the worst, It only gets better, It’s just beginning, And it goes on forever.” The alternating strangeness and simplicity of the music carries it beyond sentimentality and into something that feels intensely real in its vulnerability. This song pushes towards pop in its progressions and melodies, only to corrupt them with the band’s deliberate idiosyncrasy.
A tantalising pair of songs, this single shows that Famous continue to be one of the best bands of the decade, and justifies excitement for the coming ‘Party Album,’ which releases later this year.