Far-Out Fangtooth recently released their first full-length album Pure & Disinterested via Siltbreeze Records. It’s been an interesting and rewarding journey watching the local four-piece evolve from their early days as a garage band with seemingly a little more attitude and style than knowledge of their craft to a much tighter gothic art-punk unit exploring the experimental realms of post-punk and psych-rock. The pathway of their evolution was hinted in their debut 7” from Ian Records. In Pure & Disinterested, you’ll find a maturation of that sound, but it also manages to capture the spirit of the disenchanted masses who once felt isolated and disconnected from their surroundings and sought refuge in the music and culture of 80’s punk and 90’s grunge.
For those who enjoy any of the genres mentioned earlier, there are plenty of positives to attach to in a record whose subject matter certainly travels through terrain dominated by much bleakness and feelings of negativity. For me, it’s the scuzzy layered, badass guitar work of Joseph Kusy and Nick Kulp that truly standout throughout the album like in such tracks as “Hate” and “Window,” but that is not to say other facets of the band should be ignored. The steady, driving backbeat of Vincent Alvaré and the understated but necessary moody bass lines of Tania Mesterhazy along with the vocals of Fangtooth’s male members provide entrancing textures to their recordings, which were produced and engineered by Damien Taylor and Gerhardt Koerner. The LP is patient with delightful freak out moments. While the album should be experienced as a whole – from the ominous opening soundscape of “Pt. I” to its grandiose closer “Dying Days,” “White Valley” is the highlight of the full-length for me conjuring up flashbacks of the good ole days when you really had to scour your favorite underground record store to find such a hidden gem.
There will always be a subculture of society disgruntled by the world around them. Far-Out Fangtooth’s Pure & Disinterested has provided a new soundtrack echoing the disenchantment of a generation who was promised more, but unfortunately was given less (or at least that is what they have perceived). You can purchase the album HERE. – Alexis V.