Given to me as a recommendation I went into Feeding People utterly cold without hearing so much of a chord. How did I leave the album at the end? Cosy and warm!
Feeding People’s album Island Universe opens with “Mountain Song” and it introduces you to two things that distinguish them. Firstly you’ll hear that the guitar and the flow of the drums have a fluidity to them that makes it feel more milky than a lot of other rock bands. Secondly the vocals have a real meshing of reverbs over them that brings the music further into the realms of psychedelia. This is further enhanced by the orgasmic “Uranium Sea” that has a wonderful bridge that explodes into a manic finale and has plenty of draw organs freaking out over a rock band clearly intent on moshing their-selves into the darkness. “Insane” decides to mix up the tempos whilst the lead vocals become almost PJ Harvey-esque as the drowning reverb is taken away and we have a powerful voice unveiled. By the end of the track I wanted to have a multicoloured swirling circle before my eyes to be hypnotised under. Fantastic!
“Cat Song” is the first breath the album takes for a wonderfully irrelevant four minutes of acoustic guitar, flute and ad-libs before “Inside Voices” brings us back to tempo changing, discordant guitar mashing. “Silent Violent” literally takes the song title and transcribes it to noise. The verses are beautiful guitar piques and angelic tinkle only for it to explode into heavy chugging and tom drums for the choruses. While the songs are mini anthems in a way they straddle an unusual line of half hooks / half smashing up the stage.
“Big Mother” is a short rock track and is about as standard as the album gets before “Desert Song” takes a simple Arabian inspired riff and turns it into a slinky snake of a rock track. Again, this is probably the most radio friendly track on the album so newbies start here! “Red Queen” reminds me so much of T-Rex. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s the production and the way the guitar rhythm sits on the track to push it forward. It certainly gets you going.
Title track “Island Universe” is completely different to the rest of the album. The guitar playfully makes a Hawaiian styled riff that slowly is added to whilst the vocals chirp to the clumsy drums and organs. It feels like a party wrap. However we’ve still two to go. “Each His Own” puts the guitar through a really cool synthesizer that makes a metallic buzzing and phasing sound. It gives the song a sound of its own and transforms a simple riff into something bigger than its parts. The closing track is funnily enough called “Closer” and its a real lighter swayer (or mobile light swayer).
So “Island Universe” is an album that harks way back to the early 70’s in many ways. There’s some really interesting care free moments and some genius decisions. I’m impressed and certainly will be looking out for more.