Release Date: 14th September 2018
Label: Killing Moon/Alya Records
Genre: Alt Rock
Leeds Quintet Fizzy Blood are having a pretty strong year thus far. Fresh from having hit up the festival circuit including Reading and Leeds over the summer, their latest EP Pink Magic is slated for release in mid-September. The band’s third offering, it is a four-track affair which deftly skips between skronky upbeat riffs and more introspective synth-heavy numbers.
Things kick off with ‘Pink Magic’, which is easily the strongest track on the EP. The track opens with a choppy drone-like sound laid over a sixteen beat. There is a captivating energy to this song which is complemented by precise guitar licks punctuating the instrumentation. The vocals are delivered confidently and the overall feel of the track has a swaggering energy to it. It is a very strong opener.
The video for ‘Pink Magic’ sees the band in matching jumpsuit and shades getup underneath a mirror-ball. The minimal movement of the band serves to emphasise the excellent use of space within the song. All of this is underpinned with some suggestive clips of bananas, champagne bottles and the like, which may give an inkling of what ‘Pink Magic’ refers to.
The second track ‘CFO4424’ begins with a slightly distant sounding vocal before a chunky, QOTSA style riff is introduced. The technique of cutting out to just vocals and drums in the latter third of the song works well. Lyrically the song focuses on unrequited or perhaps even entirely imagined love; “I wrote a love song to all my friends, it was never sung cos they live inside my head.” Though relatively short the song’s downbeat but tight execution fits a number of elements together pretty much seamlessly.
‘Strangers’ is an altogether slower affair opting for a sparse moody aesthetic. The bassline to the song bumps along over another steady beat giving the song a solid groove as it’s foundation. The Mournful vocal enunciation laments feeling of loneliness and uncertainty when on a night out. There is a strangeness to this song as spaced out almost prog interludes and stabs of synth like accompaniment add colour to the sound.
‘Illusion’ begins in a faster more recognisably rock based tone. Thrashy guitars and urgent drums open up the track. However, this soon segues into an almost cheery section, which provides an interesting jaunty counterpoint to the prevailing dark feel of the rest of the song. Here, as previously the subject matter considers an alienated and dissatisfied central voice. ‘Illusions’ manages to encapsulate a heavier sound alongside more poppy influences without sounding jarring.
While the subsequent tracks on Pink Magic don’t quite reach the level of the first song, this is due more to that initial songs strength than any major deficiency in the later numbers. This is an EP that demonstrates a band willing to deviate from a straight rock formula and sounds all the better for it. It seems reasonable to expect big things from Fizzy Blood going forward.
Recommended Track: Pink Magic
Rating: 7/10
You can buy the EP here and keep up to date with the band on their Website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram