In a world of wishy washy pop wannabees who emulate the tried and tested methods of their forebears to bring us pop with all the desirability of cold greasy dishwater My Federation have so far proven to be something of a blessing with their releases so far. The Honey Bee EP was a delight, the single Don’t Wanna Die was a proven continuation of the trend. Now we have the album (of the same name).
Proper little corker it is as well. Yes, like so many they wear the influences on their sleeves. Its an unavoidable fact, if I didn’t know better I’d swear this bunch were frozen in ice sometime in the late sixties only to be thawed and dragged back to consciousness…ooh sometime last week.
Twelve tracks that rattle along on the rails of their influences, sure they show what inspired them. But they don’t try to hide it and they do it well, you’ve got slivers of The Byrds and The Who with glacial trippy harmonies and some nice subtle filtered vocal effects on tracks like The Rising Light. Then there are the needling retro synths that dally in the background.
As a collection the pop sensibility runs through the album like a stick of rock, they do know how to slam the throttle down though (Party Offender and Paper and String), the former having an almost Hives like quality to it. No territory it would seem is left unexplored on this release, catch a load of the lead lined funk on offer on Tom Tom. Blinding stuff.
One of the primary factors on this album is that all involved seem to have enjoyed themselves during the process, its eked out in all the songs on offer and if they can bottle this feel good factor for a live audience then that alone should make them an unmissable prospect.
Five star product!
