In three words: manic, rousing and paranoid - ‘Jack’s House’ is a brilliant statement of intent from six-piece Famous, whose debut EP is due for release end of May via Untitled Recs. We tipped the band as ones to watch in 2019 after they released first single ‘Surf’s up’, and this follow up single shows their sound even more inflated and exaggerated.
Guttural guitars chug away alongside a turbulent drum beat and eerie, panicked synths (played by the brilliantly experimental Jerskin Fendrix) to make up the backdrop of the track. Frontman Jack Merrett’s unnerving vocal becomes gradually more strained and throaty as the track climbs to an epic, anxiety-inducing, synth-heavy crescendo. Listen to ‘Jack’s House’ below:
The band have a penchant for dramatising the banal, and navigating the pressures of modern day life through a prism of theatricality. While some artists opt for a more nuanced approach, Famous say it like it is - in the most melodramatic, exaggerated manner possible. Born of his self-admitted attraction to the idea of a ‘refusal to let anything not be a big deal’, Jack Merret describes the track as “a fast rock song, written in the midst of general crisis. Famous’ mythic take on youth, fear and ambition.”
However, given this tendency to exaggerate, the lyrical content is still highly relatable with lines such as “Try to be fashionable without looking in the mirror, I regret everything but nothing even happened” are, ultimately, a little bit of everyone, as is "I want the earth and I want to be your friend, feelings are stupid and kisses are dirt, I don’t like people - I just wanna be one”.
Famous are right on the pulse of the beating heart of London’s underground music scene. Jerskin Fendrix, who plays synth in the band, is fresh off a tour and collaboration with the inimitable Black Midi, and is a cult singer and producer in his own right. Having shared the stage with the likes of Horsey, HMLTD, Sports Team and Cosmo Pyke, Famous definitely have an exciting year ahead of them.
Taking inspiration from a range of genres, including classic art-rock - the likes of Roxy Music and Talking Heads, to grime and classical, all these sounds bubble together in a melting pot that has helped to produce their idiosyncratic sound. The band are also involved in other creative endeavours other than music. As a result of curating art parties in warehouses all over the capital, the band have found themselves enjoying being in the centre of a performance-arts community. They are the brains behind ‘Ubu’, an experimental theatre piece performed in summer at the V&A. All these cultural influences and experiences come together to create something intoxicatingly fresh and current, reflective of the present day.
FAMOUS play Sebright Arms, London on 6 June.
