I adore Furrowed Brow – a band named after the facial expression people have when hearing their music – they just don’t care about musical bandwagons or current fads, they just do their own very idiosyncratic thing in a very DIY fashion.Sound like good stuff, it is.
The first thing you’ll notice about ‘Jill’ is the sound. Here the band combine spacey retro synths, a raw frantic punkish garage R’n’B and Glam into something that sounds something like The B-52s influenced by the Fall and weirdly, 70s’ children’s TV music. I reserve the right to use this as, yes, I bloody lived through the strangeness that was some children’s TV in the 70s; anyone out there remember The Banana Splits and The Tomorrow People. It’s all swoopy keyboards, organ, declaimed mad lead vocals and loose female backing vocals. It’s a riot, a joyful musical riot that you’ll find difficult not to frug your arse off to.
But wait, there is more. ‘More?’ I hear you say. Yes, there is more. Furrow Brow’s songs can be about things that are equally as out there as their music. In this case the song is inspired by a Philip Larkin novel in which the shy young protagonist dreams up the perfect sister he never had – only to conflate her with a real person who happens to have the same name – it’s essentially a tragic song about loneliness, anxiety and infatuation. Making a song that’s lyrically fascinating as well as frug your arse off goodness.
‘Jill’ is a glorious thing, enough said.
But again there is more; the single comes with a B-side ‘Tik Tok Twat’, a cutting critique of the Tik Tok generation. Here the words are combined with music that takes what I can only describe as coming from a place of The Bonzo Dog Band, 70s’ ‘comedy songs’ by ageing comedians and Punk Pathetique. I know, difficult to imagine but damned easy to listen to.
Bloody hell, Furrowed Brow make wonderful music. ‘Jill’ and Tik Tok Twat’ are evidence of this. Absolutely fucking brilliant stuff. Get your ears around some Furrowed Brow.
The info
Furrowed Brow are:
Richey – VOX (he/him)
Marc – SYNTH / ORGAN / VOX (he/him)
Evie – BASS / VOX (they/them)
Meg – GUITAR (she/her)
Ruairi – DRUMS / VOX (he/him)
