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When front men, or women, step aside from their group efforts to strike out on their own, I always fear that the effort will be, well, too self-indulgent. Geoffrey O’Connor, of the Crayon Fields, created a record of his own back in 2011, when he broke out a bit from his guitar and moved into the synth pop side of things. Fan Fiction is another trip into the world of danceable beats and narratives that take place or belong in a nightclub.
Nightclub beats may be one thing, but it’s a whole different animal to be able to go back and forth from dance floor to the other parts of your life. While we all like to shake it, I have to have a little bit of substance to accompany my dance tunes and set them apart from all the rest. The general sound on Fan Fiction is interesting—something along the lines of a mix between Cut Copy and the vocal quality reminiscent of Owen Pallett. It’s synth dance pop with 80’s flair; the presence of the electric guitar through the whole thing adds a neat little element that sets it apart from other takes on this genre. However, there really isn’t a whole lot of variety from track to track that add up to something other than a collection of songs that all sound somewhat similar to each other.
Though my main issue with this album is its lone dimension, there are still some pretty fun tracks that you can groove to. Take “Jacqueline” and “Another Time,” for two great examples of this—both of these tunes are dance floor ready. “Jacqueline,” kicks open with some drum machine, synth riffs and what sounds like a hint of crisp guitar riffs. The beat pumps through the song, and the lead vocals take on a quality that resembles the pulsating electronic sounds as he wonders after the title character now that he knows nothing about her. While the song doesn’t really build to anything in the end, it’s no doubt catchy and will have you lamenting “Jacqueline” along with O’Connor and the feminine vocals that join him for the choral hook. Similar in interest is “Another Time,” where the rhythm is picked up and the lyrics twist around in little endless loops of tongue twisters while instrumentation sounds like scattering fragments of synth that go on forever in the background.
Overall though these few really detailed and stick out tracks weren’t enough to pull me into the rest of the album. I was left feeling a little bored with Fan Fiction and longing for a little more substance.
There hasn’t been a synth-pop band in the last ten or so years that really stuck with me quite like Soviet has. Ever since I first caught them at SXSW back in 2003, they’ve made it on to many a mixtape and “DJ” set. It’s been so long, I had no idea they were even still working together, but it looks like Burger Records has their hands on a brand new album from the group. There’s really not too much to say, other than this might be one of the most-overlooked dream-pop acts that’s been birthed in the last couple of decades (just one man’s opinion). I can’t wait to hear all of Ghosts when it’s released this week!
