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Finlay
The Fall Of Mary
Fortuna Pop
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Article
written by James S
May 11, 2006.
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At first glance, Finlay aren’t what you’d expect from a Fortuna Pop band. The label, whose slogan proclaims that they have ‘More Soul Than Wigan Casino’, seems an incongruous choice for this East London five-piece with their slavish devotion to US alt-rock heroes like Pavement, Sonic Youth and Silver Jews.
Listen more closely though to this, their second album, and the link becomes more obvious. Whether playing loud or quiet, Finlay have much in common with Fortuna Pop trailblazers Airport Girl, who themselves had more than the odd moment in thrall to Messrs Malkmus, Moore and Berman in their time. Add in the fact that the label boss used to be the bass player in Airport Girl and it’s case closed.
Thus, Rad Wagon opens proceedings in a suitably scuzzy manner, with Adam Straw’s vocals sounding considerably more English than they do elsewhere, when they find themselves distinctly, but not unpleasantly, transatlantic. The harmonies added by keyboardist Lorna Crabbe on the likes of Tread On Flowers Pt 1 and Fuck Honey provide a nice counterpoint, and Crabbe comes into her own on the pulsating Phantasmagoria, with its echoes of Bearsuit and Prolapse.
Conan: The College Years hides its guitar scralls neatly beneath a pounding bass drum, but it’s the ambitious nine-minute ebb and flow of Mary IV that stands out furthest, with its delightfully out of tune guitars, languorous vocals and occasional bursts of superbly crafted noise.
‘The Fall Of Mary’ teaches us couple of things then. Don’t judge a band by its location and don’t judge a label by its slogan. Perhaps the best US indie-rock record not to come out of the States this year, it’s an album worth falling for even if your name’s not Mary.
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