Faint - Wet From Birth

  by Mark Rowland

published: 26 / 9 / 2004

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Review

The Faint’s electro – goth opus, third album ‘Danse Macabre’, shot them from little- known underground band to an incredibly fashionable one. The music was based in electronics but arranged like a rock band, making them the perfect mid-way point between the electro and rock artists that were being pulled into the spotlight – like an evil Duran Duran. New record ‘Wet From Birth’ partly follows on from ‘Danse Macabre’, but also tries to diversify, adding post punk bass, strings and more prominent guitars. At times, this works well. The opener ‘Desperate Guys’ comes across like a subtler version of the stuff on their previous album, while ‘I Disappear’ has a great driving, distorted funk bass line. On ‘Dropkick the Punks’ The Faint also go back to their punky roots, which is reflective of the more organic sound the band were trying for. ‘Paranioattack’ treads the same water as ‘Danse Macabre’ and is one of the highlights of the album. In other places, however, some ideas don’t work. A few of the tracks sound quite similar, for example, ‘How Could I Forget’ sounds like an inferior version of ‘I Disappear’. Also, although the acoustic guitar driven verses of ‘Southern Belles in London Sing’ sound great, the cheesiness of the lyrics and the chorus are pretty irritating. This also goes for some of the strings, which are often misplaced. The album's closer ‘Birth’ relieves some of this, however, mixing the strings, guitars and electronics to good effect. ‘Danse Macabre’ was a much better record. The Faint’s attempts at a direction change are a bit hit and miss, but when it does work, it can be very effective. Hopefully, with their next record, they’ll score a few more bullseyes.

Track Listing:-

1 Desperate Guys
2 How Could I Forget?
3 I Disappear
4 Southern Belles In London Sing
5 Erection
6 Paranoiattack
7 Dropkick the Punks
8 Phone Call
9 Symptom Finger
10 Birth

Band Links:-

https://twitter.com/thefaint
http://thefaint.com/
https://www.facebook.com/thefaint
https://www.pinterest.com/thefaint/

Label Links:-

http://saddle-creek.com/
https://www.facebook.com/SaddleCreekRe
http://www.last.fm/label/Saddle+Creek
https://www.youtube.com/user/SaddleCre
https://twitter.com/saddlecreek