Review: Faderhead - 'FH4'

FADERHEAD

'FH4'

L-TRACKS RECORDS

Despite being called 'FH4' this is actually the sixth full-length album from the Hamburg based producer.  The numbering convention seemed to have been aborted with the fourth and fifth albums ‘Black Friday’ and ‘World of Faderhead’, but those were more concept based albums and the return to numbering sequence also resurrects a lot more of the old-school Faderhead ideas.

'FH4' steers further away from club hits, with a lot more influence in pop and ballad tracks and a sharp distinctive variation between tracks.

For example ‘Bitches All Know About My Boom’ is slow, with a grinding electro beat – whilst ‘Self Control’ cranks up the gears into some bouncing electroclash.

The 13 tracks glide round hints of EBM, synths, gritty electro, dirty pop and electroclash, swaying seamlessly from one idea to another.  Faderhead have always written strong ballads and they’re here aplenty – certain to have you lost inside their subtle grooves.

If you’re looking for something dancier, there’s always ‘Dancers’ which features guests Shawn Mierez and Shaolyn, “Yes we’ve got the groove, got the beats, got the bass baby… and we’re the best dancers” – very cliché, but effective.   There is not denying it’ll be stuck in your head for hours and the sassy vocal lines and thumping beats.

The variety on show is one of the key strengths, no two tracks are the same and although it is progression on previous work, it’s not a ‘Dirty Girls part 2’ or any of that.  That it doesn’t flow straight from the last album does make it tough to digest initially, though patience does expose what a great selection of songs this actually is.

A special chuckle goes out to the final track on the album, ‘Drunk German Bono’, which features Brian from The Gothsicles.  This is a diss-track… about Faderhead.  An absolute hilarious self-parody, well, if you’re going to take the piss out of someone, why not start with yourself…

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