Fine Times - Fine Times

  by Dave Goodwin

published: 30 / 4 / 2013

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Review

Vancouver's Jeffrey Josiah Powell and Matthew Moldowan's first project, 16mm, went horribly wrong and disbanded. Thankfully, however, they didn't give up and quickly regrouped when they got the call to work with producer Howard Redekopp, who has worked with Tegan and Sara and the New Pornographers, and then consequently formed Fine Times. What has been created from this amalgamation is an addictive collection of pop songs that captures ten tunes in a raw, yet polished unrelenting wall of electric synth sound. The album's starter 'Strays' sets the tone with its great Spector-esque harmonies. They follow with the fuzzed-out enormous orchestral synth pop of 'Judas' the first single from the albyum. This is an unapologetically pop record, and every song on the album has a catchy infectious beat or melody that burrows into the the brain. It really is unashamedly 80's-influenced in places, which is no bad thing. There are a lot of 80's style bands out there at the moment, and Fine Times are one of the better ones. Do my ears deceive me or is that a stylophone zipping around in there like a fevered wasp amongst the other instrumentation? Where so many bands at the moment under produce their records and call it "stripped down" which, don't get me wrong, sometimes works, this in contrast is lush and full to the brim of sounds which appear exactly where they should be. Ah! Safe I hear you shout. No, not necessarily safe. There's a good deal of quirky and 'out there' moments here too like the cheeky bouncing View-ridden track 'Television Tel Aviv' which has a xylophone twinkling away, and 'Hungry Siamese' which rides along on a quirky typical 80's drum beat. The best tracks for me on here are the huge Spiritualised-influenced 'Lions', the Gorillaz-sounding 'High Brow Low Times' and the wonderfully Spector-esque 'Into the Mechanarium'. This is a tasteful winner of an album that is surely going to be remixed to the hilt in places. And why not? Each track on here will make your tootsies tootle, and it's not every record that does that,is it? Vancouver's Jeffrey Josiah Powell and Matthew Moldowan's first project, 16mm, went horribly wrong and disbanded but thankfully they didn't give up and quickly regrouped when they got the call to work with producer Howard Redekopp and consequently formed Fine Times. What has been created from this amalgamation is an addictive collection of pop songs that captures ten tunes in a raw, yet polished unrelenting wall of electric synth sound. Hitting the shops on the 22nd of April this one might just surprise a few folk. The album's starter for ten 'Strays' sets the tone with its Specter style great harmonies and beat pumping away to its unusual synth warblings and follows with the fuzzed-out enormous orchestral synth pop of 'Judas' the first release from this very shiny debut. This is unapologetically pop and every song on the album has a catchy infectious beat or melody that burrows like a bunny into the music side of the brain. It really is unashamedly 80's in places, which is no bad thing. There are a lot of 80's style bands out there at the moment and I have to admit that this is one of the better ones and do my ears deceive me or is there even a stylophone zipping around in there like a fevered wasp or something? Where some bands fail in the under production calling it "stripped down" which, don't get me wrong, sometimes works this is lush and full to the brim of sounds where they should be. Ah! Safe I hear you shout. No, not necessarily safe. There's a good deal of quirky and 'out there' moments here too like the cheeky bouncing View ridden track Television Tel Aviv with its xylophone? twinkling away and the cat driven Hungry Siamese riding on a quirky typical 80's drum beat. The big guns for me on here are the huge, dare I say, Spiritualised influenced 'Lions', the Gorillaz sounding 'High Brow Low Times' and the wonderfully Spectorish 'Into the Mechanarium'. They have obviously drawn on various influences as well as their own creative input and adding Producer Howard Redekopp's tinkerings, who has worked with Tegan and Sara and The New Pornographers, they have come out the other side with a tasteful winner here that is surely going to be remixed to the hilt in places. And why not, each track on here will make your tootsies tootle and it's not every record that does that now is it?

Track Listing:-

1 Strays
2 Hey Judas
3 High Brow Low Times
4 Television Tel Aviv
5 And It Happened At Midnight
6 Lions
7 Calico
8 Hungry Siamese
9 Bright Lights
10 Into the Mechanarium

Band Links:-

http://finetimes.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/finetimes
https://twitter.com/finetimes
http://finetimesfinetimes.tumblr.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/finetimes
https://www.instagram.com/finetimes/

Label Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/LightOrganRec
https://twitter.com/lightorgan
https://www.youtube.com/user/LightOrga
http://www.lightorganrecords.com/
https://www.instagram.com/lightorgan/
https://plus.google.com/+LightOrganRec