It takes but a song or two for the drink addled brain of this reviewer to guess that Fat Supper are not from the obviously misnamed Great Britain. They are, in fact, from Rennes in God’s chosen country of France and their album “Academic Sausage” is a very competent example of the kind of mannered and thoroughly well played rock music that seems only to thrive in continental Europe these days.
Crossing the Channel with a not inconsiderable amount of energy at their disposal, Fat Supper easily jump between the precisely mannered lust of “Clutter” to the rather more oblique “Smell” without even appearing to break sweat and, even when they slow the pace, as they do in “Narvana”, they seem able to walk the tightrope between being surefooted and being inventive in a manner that suggests the fragmented symbolism of the album cover art had caused them to follow the path leading to the bleaker side of Little Feat.
“Butter Fed” steps the Fat Supper game up a notch with an evident playfulness neatly counterbalancing the aggressive guitar interjections and sandpaper vocals while “Gonogo” further demonstrates their musical maturity by adding a twist of lyrical lime to keep the scurvy of repetition away.
A solid - as a rock perhaps? - performance from this French band whose skill and sometimes offbeat sensibilities help them stand out from the crowd.
Available from Bandcamp.