Fosca - Diary Of An Antibody

  by Tommy Gunnarsson

published: 24 / 7 / 2002

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Review

The first time I saw Dickon Edwards, the singer and lyricist in Fosca, at a festival last summer I thought that Simon Le Bon had been raised from the dead (or wherever he is now). With his shining hair and very polished haircut, he looked like a very blonde twin brother to the Duran Duran singer. But then someone told me that it was indeed mr Edwards, and suddenly Le Bon was back with the dead. With their first album, 'On Earth To Make The Numbers Up', which was released on Shinkansen two years ago, Fosca introduced themselves to the public with their indiepop take on eurodisco, or Baxendale Light, with fantastic melodies and just as great (and sometimes even better) lyrics by Dickon. Songs like the single 'The Agony Without The Ecstasy' would have been dancefloor fillers in a better world. But now we're stuck here in this ignorant present time and much of the population here doesn't give a damn about them. Sadly enough, because even though this new effort, 'Diary Of An Antibody,' isn’t as brilliant as their debut album, Fosca are still very worth checking up. Believe Me ! The first track, and also the second single off the album, is 'Secret Crush On Third Trombone', and if you judged the album by this song alone you might be fooled into thinking that Fosca has maintained the dancefloor friendly sound of the first record, because here we get some great dancebeats and a chorus that gets stuck to your brain. When you continue to listen to the rest of the ten tracks here though, you soon hear that the sound is more polished this time, some might even say “radio friendly”. The great disco-production that graced many tracks last time around are since long gone, and I think that is a bit sad, actually. At first I thought it was the producer, Ian Catt, who was to blame for this, as his previous work includes Kylie Minogue, Saint Etienne and Trembling Blue Stars. But then I looked at 'On Earth To Make The Numbers Up', and well, Ian Catt produced that too! Then I noticed that one member is missing since last time, namely Alex Sharkey, who co-wrote the songs with Dickon. Is he to blame for this? Now I make it sound like this is the worst crime in the history of mankind, and of course it’s not, but I just think that this album might very well have been better if the production wasn’t so clean. Regardless of that though, you get some great songs here, and the lyrics in the booklet are absolutely worth your greatest attention as you listen to them. Sadly, I have had the msifortune to be able to see Fosca play live on two separate occasions, and have missed both of them. Firstly at the Bennofestival here in Sweden last summer (we didn’t want to sleep in that godforsaken tent one more night, so we went home instead) and then later in Gothenburg (I had to work). But the rumours tell me that they are a great live act, so hopefully I will catch them next time they come here. If they do. Until then, the records are just fine…

Track Listing:-

1 Secret Crush on Third Trombone
2 Idiot Savant
3 The Director's Cut
4 Oh Well, There's Always Reincarnation
5 Universal Gatecrasher
6 Supine on the Astroturf
7 I'm On Your Side
8 Letter to Saint Christopher
9 I Know I Have Been Happier
10 Rude Esperanto