Oh, there is unhappiness here. Much as I like to avoid the term urban dystopia, Glasgow band Popcorn Fiend clearly haven’t taken the bubblegum pop approach here. Instead, their self titled EP stumbles into the robotic world of the shadow. Echoing the kind of musical sentiments more prevalent amongst French and Italian electro rock bands like Elektrocution, they rip the plastic wrapping off the eighties and expose all sorts of nasty special effects and sentiments.
Droning vocals sit atop grinding synth riffs that sound like they have been exorcised from the BBC Sound Workshop with the ghost of Davros (Lord of the Daleks) creeping into “Fire and Ashes”. That brooding malevolence also creeps into “Well Maybe We Could Go To The Cinema” that easily drags the Prodigy on to a strobe lit dance floor. Can’t say that the primitive beats of “My Literal Downfall” did anything for me other than an urge to dig out an old Kraftwerk LP or two but “A F*cking Epiphany” just about summed up what’s being happening in basements for the last couple of years in five minutes and twelve seconds of brooding, disconnected angst. That’s a song just crying out for a hardcore dance mix.
I think that this is one band that you should be looking out for.
Available from Bandcamp.