It’s funny how we think that bands must have one style or be part of one genre. That would be like telling people they could only wear full evening dresses and tuxedos, never rock the casual style. Or that they could only be part of one group – family, doctor’s surgery, or blood type, but never all three. Given that most people go through numerous fluctuations of personality strain daily, what are we to expect when 6 of them are thrown together? Not only that, but when those people are ‘creative types.’ Yes, you know what I mean.
And so I wasn’t surprised to hear that Brooklyn’s Fish Doctor (Michael, Jared, Michael, Alex, Brian and Rocco) change musical direction every time the wind does the same. Sometimes surf, like on last June’s Atlantic and the lead track from their 2011 EP Summer In Wintertime, sometimes electro a la Infantry Song, and sometimes going off kilter completely on the chilled psyche Hawaiian Blizzard, complete with hazy feminine vocals. Things are never as happy go surfy as they seem, with even the simple refrain of ‘and you drown in the Atlantic’ hinting at a more sinister layer below. Fun but far from throwaway, full of confidence and frivolity that smells of experience rather than naivety.
1 Comment
ldellavella
Good point. I never really thought about music in that way. It is weird that we expect music to be only in one genre. It would be fun to kind of switch it up, but for me all of the piano songs I write are definitely in the same genre. Can’t really write differently but it would be fun to try. Thanks for sharing this idea.