In spite of its spiky, slightly aeruginous sound, Trauma – a second to come from Brighton trio Fear of Men’s forthcoming sophomore full-length, Fall Forever – is, and is quite incontrovertibly, the most readily digestible and decidedly accessible, if not poppy number that Jessica Weiss, Daniel Falvey and Michael Miles have, as yet, leant their androphobic moniker thereto. (The enduring, gorgeous Green Sea should’ve/ would’ve/ could’ve kept onto said title, had it been produced in that little bit more hi-fi a manner, needless to say… Nevertheless,) as per their performance at The Victoria late on last week, Trauma represents the sort of eccentric, quintessentially British avant-pop that shares considerably more commonality with the likes of These New Puritans as opposed to those who so fearlessly scale the upper echelons of perfectly irrelevant charts worldwide, belligerent snares combining – improbably, yet impressively – with battered synths and, audibly bruised, Weiss’ bewailing, “You give me trauma/ You give me more than I can bear.” And Schadenfreudian though this doubtless sounds, so long as Fear of Men continue to produce this sort of impactful, powerful stuff, it may not be such a bad thing for further distresses, etc. to bedevil Weiss’ lot…
Fall Forever will be available from June 3nd, via Kanine Records.