An Easy Introduction to the Glorious Wavy Sea of Electronica
It’s totally appropriate to identify Fake Fever as the new kids on the block. With Inside The Well, their latest album, they’ve successfully introduced listeners to their colorfully artistic approach to electronic music. The whole of it, really, is somewhat of a meditation on the agitation that comes after trying to attain even the loosest of grips on the limits of what can be done in this genre. Their sound is one that can be characterized as bearing the influence of many unrelated sonic sensations, from quacking-like phenomena to what indignant trickling water would want to get across if it were to put together a track. One, it should be clear, needs to make sure that their volume is turned to its maximum setting in order for one to feel the amplitude of what Fake Fever has laid out.
“Autotoxemia” is as magnitudinous as the word its title uses. It’s a heavenly kind of vibey, placing listeners’ into the sight of a flower-child serenely pacing through a garden whose many-colored flowers are too hard to spot with recognition, yet beautiful nonetheless, because of a beamingly bright sun. The delivery of its singer is comparable to what one might possibly hear in the immediate moments following one’s death. “You belong to me” are the first words uttered dragging audience members right into the complex mystery of what could be lying at the base of the well. A beat’s seemingly made out of jingling Christmas bells and the angelic voice over it details descriptions of time’s extensively vast dimensions. This track helps Fake Fever to ascend to a higher position.
While Inside The Well’s production is of a holy quality, it’s often hard to hear with any degree of comprehension what’s being said over the feverish music throughout. But that just might be an intended effect on Fake Fever’s part. For all the escapist themes they address, it’s mostly quite apt that there’s this slight disconnect between singer and listener. All that strange bumping-around is chaotic, sure, but warranted and welcome. After all, this is effective electronica — it’s supposed to have that mellowed-out, cerebral feel to it. The character should be one that allows this detachment of sorts. If one simply follows where this chill-wave wanders, they won’t be led to unpromising oases; perhaps that is what sums up Fake Fever’s intentions.
“Palace Intrigue” feels like what would fittingly be played over a videoed tour of a palace. There’s an attempt to weave a narrative into its seams and the result doesn’t turn out to be pretentious. Its lyrics reveal a specific analysis about something impactful that someone’s done unto its speaker. The synthesizers in use work wonderfully, coming together to unveil well-thought-out nuances. Listeners must dance along to this one, as it’s replete with that moving magic.
Tonally, “Coral Ring” and “Sozu” are both ethereally aquatic, the former beginning with ambient ocean sounds similarly found in relaxing sleep inducing YouTube videos. It, too, includes the sound of crashing waves. Still, there’s certainly this variance to it and a lyrical series trailing-off with “Tell me…,” letting a sense of eeriness seep in. “Sozu” starts with a flourish commonly heard on berserk lottery machines; the instrumentation then goes on to flex far and wide. There are various amalgamations that compose its overall sonic tonality and the song displays Fake Fever’s mastery over electronic-sounding elements.
Containing many melodious swellings, Inside The Well is an album of anthems. The line “I miss the thought of you,” a few words repeated by what sounds like a distorted robot’s voice, can continually be heard on the opening tracks here, it’s an interesting inclusion. Maybe that’s Fake Fever attempting to directly speak through this unseeable wall to their audience, or it’s just a hint at this bigger message they felt when composing the album’s lyrics. Whatever it is, the truth may never be known, but all should embrace that ambiguity.
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