Fake Fruit -- Fake Fruit: Review

Fake Fruit -- Fake Fruit

[Rocks in Your Head]

After five years of being together, indie punks Fake Fruit release their self-titled debut on March 5th to Rocks in your Head Records. The label is run by multi-instrumentalist Sonny Smith, frontman of the Sunsets, whose label has been increasing in popularity for hosting hot indie punk bands on the West Coast. And Fake Fruit’s debut fits right into their catalog, with all the staples of indie rock/art punk fusion bands of today plus an edge of authenticity and spirit.

Fake Fruit’s self-titled debut has been five years in the making. The band has been a shifting coalition beginning in New York, then moving to Toronto, and now Oakland, California where they assembled the lineup for the debut record. The band’s members have changed since conception but has always been led by singer, guitarist, and lead songwriter Hannah D’Amato. With guitarist Alex Post, bassist Martin Miller, and drummer Miles MacDiarmid, Fake Fruit delivers one of the most electrifying and biting punk albums of the year so far.

The album is a tight 30-minute bout, jumping from one art punk banger to another. And Fake Fruit wears a colorful variety of influences on their sleeve from the throttling song lengths of punk pioneers like Wire to the slacker rock melodies from 90s cornerstones like Pavement. And the band’s x-factor comes from singer D’Amato’s slacker sprechgesang which reeks of Courtney Barnett--if Barnett was furiously angry. While the influence worship is blatant in their music, Fake Fruit’s blend of sounds are tasteful, and is greater than the sum of their influences.

The energy starts at the catchy opener “No Mutuals,” which sees D’Amato calling out the oddities of parasocial internet relationships: “I don’t wanna wait/to be christened as/cooooool.” The song manages to insert this infectious vocal melody into less than three minutes, and makes for one of the most memorable cuts here. Other instances of pop brilliance like on “Keep You” and “Don’t Put It On Me” show the band’s tenacity for tight, hooky songwriting. My favorite bits are where the band manages to flip seamlessly from dissonant grooves to shouty pop melodies, and never loses my attention doing it.

But the boon of Fake Fruit is in their biting punk energy on tracks like “Old Skin,” where the band relies on their chemistry and strong performances to deliver a wild journey of emotions in just over a minute. It’s songs like these where the band’s commitment to even the smallest ideas is shown to be their strength, like on “Miscommunication” where D’Amato and company play a staggering no-wave riff that’s both disorienting and exhilarating. The band’s humor is in fullform on “Lying Legal Horror Lawyers” where D’Amato takes the piss out of male fragility, contrasting with breakbeat speeds.

The album’s weakness lies in its lack of variety on a few of the tracks. By the latter half of the project, it feels like the band might be painting themselves into a corner with these riffs. But the commitment to the sound is appreciated, and results in a record that is consistently thrilling and never lulls. Fake Fruit’s debut is promising for a band on their debut, and shows a punk band with confidence in their band chemistry and songwriting ability.

7.5/10.

Listen To: “No Mutuals”, “Old Skin”, “Miscommunication”, Put on the whole damn thing, it’s only 30 minutes

RIYL: Courtney Barnett, Wire, Pavement