Debut album from Brooklyn, NY collective, Fun Facts.  Dreamy post-punk plus intimate, melodic vocals = warm satisfaction.

Release Date:  22nd November 2024

Label: Self Release / bandcamp

Formats: Digital

A FAMILIAR FACE

From Brooklyn, NY, Fun facts are: Matt Evans (drums & vocals), Suzie Kim (keyboards & vocals), Mike Powers (bass) and Ethan Woods (guitar & vocals).  The more observant of our readers may well recall that guitarist/vocalist Ethan has graced these pages before. The respected composer for modern dance – and hyperactive mover within the Brooklyn music scene – caught our attention with his 2022 solo album, Burnout.

Fun Facts came together in 2020, when they assembled in Suzie’s Brooklyn apartment. In their own words, they “…forged a shared musical alloy in the hearth of Suzie’s apartment” – when they would spend those gone-but-not-forgotten days and nights of lockdown, jamming through the COVID blues.  They describe their music, and their musical approach as: “…an alchemical fusion of post-punk ingots with a psychedelic patina, engraved with lyrics that deal with their discomfort with the spectacular images of modernity.  Fun Facts is a laboratory, powered by four hamsters on hamster wheel generators that power smiles, sways and headbangs.”  Does that description sound a little flowery to you?  If it does, it probably won’t, once you’ve a had deep listen to Apartment Rock…

IT’S ALMOST UNCLASSIFIABLE

…Because, in all honesty, Apartment Rock is almost unclassifiable.  The post-punk strains are certainly present and correct but there’s a lot more to these songs than can be captured in a simple, two-word description.  The vocals and vocal harmonies are sublime, the tunes are rich and melodic and, best of all, the songs – and the lyrics – seldom venture in the direction that you expect them to go.  It all adds up to a warm, satisfying, listening experience.

POST-PUNK, AND MUCH MORE…

It’s lead single, Walking The Dead, that gets Apartment Rock underway.  It’s a jazzy number, with Ethan’s crunching guitar chords providing a punky edge. Amongst the discomfiting lyrical references, you’ll detect whoops of unbridled joy.  It’s fast, punchy and oddly tuneful.  Hot on the heels of single #1, comes single #2, the intriguing Sad Tt The Gym.  Suzie takes the lead vocal, a repeated “Sad at the gym,” before the song breaks out into a summery pop theme.  Suzie’s synth sparkles – like an early console game soundtrack – and Mike’s bass is busy and bubbly.

Driving punk alternates with melodic balladry for the dreamlike Vast Expanse, before the pace is slowed a touch for the relaxing, enticing, Be Here.  To a soft, insistent, drumbeat and Ethan’s chiming guitar notes, Suzie and Matt deliver the first of their several outstanding harmony vocals.

Fun Facts’ post-punk influence is, perhaps, at its most evident with Consumer View. A song where a dramatic, passionate, spoken-word vocal and the drum and synth accompaniment combine to achieve an authentic early 80s retro-futuristic feel.

LET’S GET SERIOUS

And, it’s ‘round about here that things start to get really serious…  The strummed bass, slide guitar and unexpectedly intimate vocals of the gentle, contemplative, Call Me To You take Apartment Rock in an entirely new direction. A direction that’s sustained for The Show Must Go On, a grand statement of intent and, possibly, the centrepiece of the entire album.  Soaring vocals sit atop a tinkly, sparkly, backing in a song that simmers softly before blossoming into something that I could almost describe as funk.

Perhaps the best vocal delivery on an album that awash with fine vocals comes with dreamy ballad, Heartsing.  Suzie and Matt switch lead lines on a song that, perhaps more than any other song, never seems to go quite where it’s expected to, yet leaves the listener feeling thoroughly satisfied, especially as the pace picks up for the extended coda.

drop in and lose yourself

This short(ish) album is brought to its conclusion with Home, another slow-building number with the focus provided, once again, by Suzie’s and Matt’s delightful harmony vocals.  It’s a song that, much like every other song on Apartment Rock, invites you to drop in and lose yourself.

Watch the official video to Walking The Dead – the album’s lead single – here:

Fun Facts online: YouTube / Bandcamp

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