Burning Ferns - Public Mono

  by Kimberly Bright

published: 10 / 5 / 2018

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Burning Ferns are a psychedelia-tinged power pop group from Newport, Wales, consisting of songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist Tony Gray, guitarist and vocalist Nathan Abraham, bass and keyboard player Brychan Todd, drummer Slim Short, and new member Dave Corten on rhythm guitar and vocals. The songs from their double A-sided single 'Bullet Train/Fuses Blow' are both here with seven more equally endearing guitar pop songs. 'Public Mono' is full of crystal clear, pure 60's jangle pop that doesn’t sound the slightest bit dated. There’s everything a fan of that genre could want: Beatle-esque hooks, Byrds guitar, Hollies and Lovin’ Spoonful vocals, well-crafted songs with a proper structure, and the good fortune to have so many band members with excellent voices. The predominance of Burning Ferns’ three-part harmonies is similar to the American vocal harmony groups popular in the 1950s and early 60s, like the musically somewhat bland but vocally impressive Lettermen and the Four Freshmen. On the more contemporary side their music leans toward Teenage Fanclub, Big Star, classic Squeeze, early R.E.M., and Fountains of Wayne (and really anything else featuring songwriter Adam Schlesinger). Among the chiming pop are sometimes rueful lyrics about love, life, technology, and memory going awry. The impossibly bittersweet, longing '“Made of the Sun' will provide listeners with more than a passing emotional twinge. 'The Watchers' is a slightly tongue-in-cheek take on the surveillance potential of our electronic devices, including kitchen appliances, and the resulting temptation to run away and live off the grid. “They’ll be watching in your kitchen/Watching you cook your food/Got a million ways of watching/Everything you do/They’ll be watching in your bread bin/Watching you burn your toast.” The band members are clearly old enough to remember private life before the internet! The album’s energy flags slightly during the last third, but it ends with the dreamy track 'White Noise in a Dead Room'. The overall feeling is upbeat but mature, with songs that owe much to – and also belong among – decades of impeccable songwriting. There is such a bright sheen covering each moment that it’s doubtful that Burning Ferns released this album until every last detail was as polished as possible.

Track Listing:-

1 Don't Get on Them Horses
2 Bullet Train
3 Fuses Blown
4 Go On, Make Me
5 Made of the Sun
6 The Watchers
7 Oh Dear Me
8 0's and 1's
9 White Noise in a Dead Room

Band Links:-

http://www.countrymile.org
http://www.facebook.com/burningferns/
http://www.twitter.com/burningferns

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