Posts Tagged ‘Jessica Weiss’

FEAR OF MEN – ” Into Strangeness “

Posted: July 2, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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It seems an age since we saw or heard anything from the duo Fear Of Men playing at SxSW in Austin, and that was before they took a four year hiatus after the release of their sophomore album Fall Forever. With a new track ‘Into Strangeness’, our first song and video in 4 years We made the video ourselves during lockdown, co directed by Mikael Johansson. It’s inspired by 16th Century British witchcraft, uncanny dreamscapes and feminine power.

They are back with a new song, Into Strangeness, a sub-3 minute salvo tightly wound with a post-punk energy that recalls the likes of Section 25 and AR Kane. The song opens up with disorientating atonal saxophone, inspired by the opening credits of 70’s neorealist film Fear Eats the Soul, before Jessica Weiss’ vocals paint an ominous picture of tension, possession and affliction.

The band are donating their first week of sales via Bandcamp to The Audre Lorde Project, supporting LGBTQ+ People of Colour in the New York area.

Released July 1st, 2020
Words and music by Jessica Weiss and Daniel Falvey.
Drums by James Davies.

FEAR OF MEN – ” Sane “

Posted: September 23, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Clear your schedule because you’ll probably end up replaying this track so many times it becomes a feature length film.  Fear Of Men are one of the most interesting bands in the UK right now. They released their second album Fall Forever earlier this year and it refines their artful balance of emotionally charged lyrics framed by metallic, almost cold sounding instrumentation. Their new video for “Sane”, is a perfect visual manifestation of that balance.

Beginning with front person Jessica Weiss climbing on top of a stone table strewn with a strange collection of objects, “Sane” plays on Fall Forever’s strong themes of passion and violence. Through a surreal narrative that looks a bit like Secret Garden meets Daisies, it deals with the forces of perception and control – taking the internal struggle of navigating a world that suddenly looks and feels different, and turning it inside out.

Give it a watch below, but make sure you have some time to spare because you’ll probably end up replaying it so many times.

I’m a monument to myself…half flesh, half stone…
Sane is from the album Fall Forever available

FEAR OF MEN – ” Fall Forever ” Best Albums Of 2016

Posted: June 9, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Fear Of Men's new album, Fall Forever, comes out June 3.

“Island,” a highlight from Fear Of Men’s new album Fall Forever, opens with a string of warped, looping sighs before fanning out into a string of swoonily propulsive pop choruses. At times, the effect is reminiscent of the early-’90s Britpop band The Sundays, albeit with a darker, more subtly discordant underbelly. “Island” is, after all, a song about independence and solitude — “Been dreaming of no one for so long,” Jessica Weiss sings at one point  but the overall sound is distinctly inviting.

Fall Forever, is the English band’s second album and follow-up to 2014’s terrific Loom. Typically, the distancing manifests itself in Weiss‘ ambivalent words, while the arrangements that surround her billow and bloom. A song like “Island” ultimately feels both personal and universal, as it captures the way getting older pushes you to carve out your own identity even as internal and external forces push you toward others.

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Elsewhere on Fall Forever, darkness and light fuse to form multifaceted gems like “Trauma,” a buzzing nugget of gloomy accusation that nevertheless shimmers with a strange kind of buoyancy. Like the rest of this brisk, moody collection, it pulls the listener in several directions at once, only to land on a sweet spot every time.

Fall Forever is out now! Nearly two years in the making, we are so excited for you to hear it. We have announced tour dates in support of the album, including a very special album release launch Friday at St Pancras Old Church, London. Many more cities and countries announced – including upcoming UK date with Wild Nothing, a large US tour with Puro Instinct, and early fall tour dates announced for Germany, Sweden, Austria, Belgium and more to come!

FEAR of MEN – ” Sane / Trauma “

Posted: May 10, 2016 in MUSIC
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Brighton, UK based Fear of Men, first introduced themselves in the shape of 2013′s much praised singles compilation “Early Fragments,” they then presented their much anticipated debut album “Loom” for release in April 2014 and has just announced “Fall Forever” for release June 3rd, 2016 on Kanine Records.

After extensively touring in support of their acclaimed debut album, 2014’s ‘Loom’, Fear of Men decamped in the early months of 2015 to an outbuilding of a disused abattoir in rural Kent, England, to begin work on new material. Such an environment was fitting for a band determined to strip their sound back to the bone and build it up to make an album that would, on their live return, “make the stage shake”.

Fear of Men is Jessica Weiss (Guitar & Vocals), Daniel Falvey (Guitar), Michael Miles (Drums, Keys).

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Taken from the album ‘Fall Forever’, released June 3rd on Kanine Records. “Fear Of Men are one of the most interesting bands in the UK right now.”

Now back with their second album Fall Forever,  here is their second single “Trauma”, which is about coping with trauma, accepting it, and taking control of it to find empowerment in moving on. “You give me trauma / You give me more than I can bear / I rise above you / I burn my body on the fire,” Weiss sings over dark synths, drilling snares, and feedback that rumbles in the distance like a stormcloud. Building to a crescendo, Weiss frees herself at the end as the music cuts out and the line “There’s nothing to keep me here” echos out on its own.

FEAR of MEN – ” Island “

Posted: March 3, 2016 in MUSIC
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After staying quiet since their 2014 debut Loom, Brighton trio Fear of Men have returned with the tender and affirming “Island.” Unlike tracks from Loom and 2013’s Early Fragments EP, which recalled the jangly side of C86 fuzz, “Island” favors ethereal production à la Broadcast. “I’m like an island/ I don’t need to feel your arms around me,” Jessica Weiss sings, before explaining that her protective membrane has grown after being “scared to be the stronger one.” The humor of a band called Fear of Men singing a song about isolation is fitting, but there is no fear here, only strength and determination.

Against quiet wisps and swelling strings, Weiss calls out like a siren for independence and self-love. “I’ll be brave, get what I want/ Woman of wax forever more,” she declares with a hint of vulnerability. Although we encounter it most often in its stoic form, wax is supple and transformative. It melts and wears down, but it ultimately hardens. The comparison of self to wax might sound severe, but it’s a material that’s accepting of change.

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FEAR OF MEN – ” Loom ” Best Albums Of 2014

Posted: December 20, 2014 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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This debut album by Fear of Men comes partly from projects completed in an English art school by frontwoman Jessica Weiss, but often seems to be driven by trans-Atlantic dreams with songs such as “America.” In an interview She Says the band claimed to listen to Simon & Garfunkel while writing and recording this album, and when they all first came to the United States they played Simon & Garfunkel’s “America” as their plane touched down. In recording, the band shook around amps until they broke and cut up a speaker to get a perfect roughing up of the generally clean guitar-driven songs. The ground covered with “Loom” may have been a bit too previously treaded, but the rough edges of these recordings really go a long way and what could have sounded safe or sugary, often plays as a legitimately fun, thumping and bouncing album instead.

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Brighton, UK based Fear of Men, first introduced in the US via last year’s much praised singles compilation “Early Fragments,” Now their much anticipated debut album “Loom” was released end of April on Kanine Records.

The title of the album both alludes to the interweaving textures that run throughout the record and references the darkness that hovers above much of Fear of Men’s output. Rather than simply marrying a handful of influences, Fear of Men designs their music from an almost uncomfortably personal place. Weiss broadcasts crippling disconnection, boredom and sexual dread with all the dour verve of a young Morrissey. The band flit between dire philosophical observations and listless melancholia, riding melodies that sentiments come off more like lazy sighs. The songs owe as much to the writing of Anais Nin or Fassbinder’s films as they do to the cold sonic atmospheres of the Chills or Broadcast. Classical instrumentation appears throughout “Loom”, warped and distorted alongside musical saws and backwards guitars, giving a sense of the imperfect to the album’s pristine pop melodies.

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