For most of this year Fear of Men have been working hard on the debut album, which is nearly finished and due to hit the shelves in April 2014. To tide us over until then, the band put out their previous 7” and cassette releases together as a compilation called Early Fragments, which came out on coloured vinyl, cd and download back in February, then on tape for Cassette Store Day in September. The compilation came out with one unreleased track – a new tune called Seer which is what we’re featuring in our Advent Calendar for you here.
Last year’s eponymous album by Melody’s Echo Chamber was a bit of a favourite of ours, so we jumped at the chance to go and see them when tickets went on sale a few months ago. When we found out later that Fear of Men would be supporting, we were even happier.
When we previewed the gig before the weekend, we were thinking that with Fear of Men’s new album nearly ready this would be a showcase for their new material. In the end, the band only played one new track, instead focussing on their released material so far (recently collected on the fine Early Fragments compilation). Speaking to the band after the gig, the reason for this was that they wanted to be as good as they possibly could for their performances at SXSW festival next week and you can’t blame them for that. Their hard work is paying off, and they’ve never sounded better. You wouldn’t know that Jess was once happy to have her vocals low in the mix, nor would you know that this is one of the band’s first gigs with their new bass player. Where the band’s older material wouldn’t have sounded out of place on legendary 90s indie-pop label Sarah Records the one new song they played sounded bigger, louder, faster and more confident. Recording of their debut album is still taking place so who knows how representative this will be of what we have to expect later this year.
As I type, Fear of Men are on a plane on their way to America. They’re kicking things off with Festival NRML in Mexico, heading to Austin, Texas where they’ll be playing NINE shows at this year’s SXSW festival. Then they’re heading off to New York for another couple of shows there. Here’s the full list:
SXSW
3/12 – 2.45pm – Red7 (Terrorbird SXSW day party)
3/13 – 1pm – Hype Hotel 301 Brazos (Gorilla vs Bear x Yours Truly)
3/14 – 1.15pm – Hotel Vegas (Austin Psych Fest)
3/14 – 3pm – Flat Top Burger Shop (Music for Listeners)
3/14 – 9pm – Valhalla (Kanine/Fat Cat Records showcase)
3/15 – 3.30pm – End of an Ear (Instore)
3/16 – 1.30pm – Fader Fort (Fader)
3/16 – 3.15pm – inside House of Vans @ The Mohawk (AV Club/Flower)
3/16 – 4.40pm- Latitude 30 (British Music Embassy)
New York
3/19 – 8.30pm – Glasslands Gallery, Brooklyn (Headline show)
3/20 – 8pm – Pianos, New York (w/Field Mouse)
And if you didn’t make it to the gig last weekend, and aren’t in America, then here’s a new video for Seer, which was the previously unreleased track from Early Fragments:
When we interviewed Jess and Dan from Fear of Men back in July, they’d just finished touring with Best Coast, had recorded Mosaic – a 7″ for the Too Pure singles club which got released in October, and were about to get their heads down and start work on their debut album. They’ve just finished recording but to tie up a few loose ends before it comes out and to help get newer fans up to speed with their back catalogue, the band are putting out a collection called Early Fragments, which brings together their 7″ and cassette releases so far, as well as a new track Seer:
Early Fragments comes out on marbled black and white vinyl and is released by Kanine Records on 11th February. Technically, it’s a US released but you’ll be able to get hold of it from Resident.
The full tracklist is:
1.Seer
2.Mosaic
3.Your Side
4.Green Sea
5.Born
6.Doldrums
7.Ritual Confession
8.Spirit House
Later in February the band are touring with Veronica Falls (sadly there’s no Brighton date), and are then heading over to the states to play SXSW, and Festival NRMAL in Mexico.
Brighton Music Blog 