Coming out of Southern Alberta, Canada, surf-punk quartet Fist City have released the follow up to their ferocious and frenetic debut It's 1983, Grow Up!, and manage to build on those raw, yet harmonious foundations it so brilliantly laid down. Effortlessly purveying their legitimate punk credentials, but with that necessary degree of nonchalance, Everything Is A Mess is another collection of hard-hitting, body-bumping swift jabs which rarely exceed the 3 minute mark.
Following a brief, cold twenty second intro, it's straight back to business for the band whose turbulent, all-encompassing noise sounds like its being played inside the barrel of a shotgun – one that is firmly pointed in the direction of their perceived foes and comes spinning out at them with maximum velocity.
Their first victims are the “racist pigs” of 'Fuck Cops', with the siren-like guitar of the chorus propelling the band straight up noses to snouts with their enemies, and then knocks them down with all the force of their riotous rhythm section. Having heard 'Let's Rip' (along with 'Losers Never Die') as a bonus track on their previous album, it is a much-welcomed gift to hear it in the fold good and proper this time around. The song does exactly what it says on the tin and, with its infectious and hummable chorus exchange between the Griffiths twins (singer/guitarist Kier and bassist Brittany) serves as one of the album's highlights.
Similarly, single 'Hey Little Sister' falls into this category as well delivering easily the band's poppiest moment to date. Not for a minute suggesting the ditching of any ideals, but merely acknowledging the advancement in songcraft the track embodies, with its brilliantly catchy verses that conclusively declare “everything is a mess”, and its gratuitously chiming lead guitar. Perhaps the prime example of what the band do best – a combination of masterfully tamed wild noise, and those melodious, resonant interludes which bring their music to life and prevent it from ever being samey or one-dimensional.
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In spite of all those undeniably gloomy song titles ('Rats', 'The Smell', 'End of the Good Times'), Fist City don't just draw attention to the dismal and depressing state of being society offers them, but through their music offer and indulge in the antidote. If anything, having these songs thrust down your ears in the manner that they are delivered is uplifting, pulsating and galvanising. Straying from the formula, and an epic by the band's own standards at 6 minutes, closer “The Mess” brings proceedings to a climactic and chaotic conclusion - even sampling the disturbing “I'm gonna run you ragged” scene from Midnight Cowboy, which fits in perfectly with the themes of disorientation, dissatisfaction, and delusion that are present throughout the album.
All in all Everything Is a Mess is a superb follow up to It's 1983, Grow Up!, elevating the band to new heights and refining their already combative craft and creativity to produce something even better. At its best it is highly addictive – like a rush of adrenaline – and demands repeated listens to nourish the craving. An album that achieves everything it set out to and then some.
Fist City online
Transgressive Records online
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