Comparisons and contrasts are at the heart of Fraudband’s split with cult UK prog-psych band The Bevis Frond. The comparisons set the scene: Fraudband, despite the band members’ extensive experience, are a relatively recent creation; the band takes its name from a pun-like observation on broadband technology. The Bevis Frond has been around for 20 years, a constantly evolving creature of the curious English psychedelic scene.
The music on the LP offers a study in contrasts: Fraudband is a stripped back, intense and frenetic take on the Dirty 3, a freakish flurry of drums and driving guitar rhythms. You Confuse Me is a mesmerising trip through time and space; the sparseness of Little Joys is deceptive. Getting Up is so heavy it hurts your head, all prog-ish and stoned-out-of-your-brain Hawkwind-like, On a Rant is a rolling riff and flurrying beat that wraps around your cerebral cortex and won’t let go and Losing It throws you over the edge into a place where sound is a metaphor for cognitive awakening.
And then there’s The Bevis Frond’s Vertigo Eyes, a 21-minute trip into the sonic ether. It starts with a splash of noise, the dawn of time for a world in which you’re trapped. The lyrics take you outside your comfort zone, looking in on the social tribulations that define our everyday life. The beat grinds on like the monotonous economic machine which threatens to suffocate us all. There’s a swim in the psych-rock pond, and you emerge revitalised. The song kicks into rock’n’roll mode and you can’t take your mind off the soundscape around you. You’re on the prog-rock road to Demascus and your conversion is complete. Get this record and open your mind.
BY PATRICK EMERY
