RIYL: Catherine Wheel, Brittle Stars, Lush
LA-based dream-pop group Fonda will release their fourth studio album “Sell Your Memories” in early February of 2013. Listening to the album is like entering a time chamber back to the 90’s in the best way possible. The band crafts a satisfying brand of dream pop and indie-rock, mixing sonic waves of guitar, punchy percussion and luscious vocals.
After being formed in 1994 by British expat Emily Cook and guitarist David Klotz the band soon added drummer Aaron Ryder and released a well-received EP “Music for Beginners” in 1998 and quickly followed that with their first LP “The Invisible Girl” in 1999. Two more full-lengths followed before the band took a hiatus of sorts, with 8 years passing before the release of their 2011 EP “Better Days”.
On their upcoming disc, Fonda do a good job at proving the shoegaze movement of the late 80’s and early 90’s is still alive, and more importantly, relevant. On the early standout “She Is Real”, Cook and Klotz trade verses over jangling guitars and soaring atmospherics, in places channeling some of Type O Negative’s gentler moments. “Summer’s Gone” is even better, with Cook and Klotz again teaming up on vocals over a surging synth line and lightly distorted guitar crunch.
The lyrics often touch on subjects of love, break-ups
and infatuation, with the single “Seeing Stars” being the most addictive example. Cook takes center stage here, delivering the catchy refrain (I’m Seeing Stars/ I’m seeing you…) over a surging wall of power chords and percussion that eventually makes way for a killer solo. It’s a formula that pays dividends on “Sell Your Memories”, but with enough variation to keep the album interesting. There’s even a sojourn into space on “You Make My Life So Extraordinary”, which mixes strings and heavy reverb, soaring into territory that brings to mind Sigur Ros or Explosions in the Sky.
With a slew of dream pop acts cropping up in recent years (Beach House, Silversun Pickups, etc.) and getting a lot of attention for sometimes questionable efforts, its heartening to see the veterans in Fonda stepping up once again to show the newcomers how it’s done.
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For More Information Visit:
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http://www.fondamusic.com
