It’s quite unlikely that anyone has heard of Fig Leaves, let alone indulged in any sonic appreciation, and this is by no means record-collector snobbery of any such, it’s just that Fig Leaves are a new band who have never played a show and pretty much use cyberspace as (currently) their only musical outlet.
Fig Leaves have just self-released their first record, available on cassette and cd‑r and is obtainable for free from www​.myspace​.com/​f​i​g​l​e​a​v​e​s​music ‑or mail them at-
[email protected]

The album starts with ‘Leafigs’ which arrests you immediately. A single sine tone runs for several seconds before being smashed into the background by huge toms and cymbals. As the rest of the instrumentation creeps in, ‘Leafigs’ dresses up as an opening-credits to some trashy straight to VHS movie that you probably don’t want to know about. Sam Soper’s guitar squeals through distorted echo and drops in and out of the mix as Ivan Misquita-Rice’s drums power the proceedings along. A menacing vocal appears chanting “Fig…Leaves!” as the track ends in swathes of feedback. My immediate thoughts were of early Chrome style jams that seem to somehow trail off into the ether almost as they have begun. As Chromes ‘Alien Soundtracks’ and ‘Half Machine Lip Moves’ segue from track to track, and within songs you get totally lost under the sheer volume of what goes on, Fig Leaves work in a load of disorientating switches that leave you scratching your head at the almost redundant track listing.

‘Leafigs’ now becomes ‘Cygnus Ohh Crane’, a dark funk track which has some great slide guitar playing that sounds more like a short burst of synth than anything. This type of tight rhythmic slide playing appears all over the record and keeps the songs sounding very aggitated and distressed. ‘Cygnus…’ develops on a single guitar/drums phrase until it becomes engulfed in synths, before eventually flicking a switch and revealing a whole new part. Sine wave bass drones kick in, almost like bass drop from a drum and bass record, or something like that, and the band pick up again with weirdly harmonised riffing.

‘Barefoot Kool’ enters with a real dark ambience, more akin to pysch-drone stuff like Double Leopards before another dark funksion comes from nowhere. ‘Barefoot Kool’ menaces with an ultra tight riff and stop-start drums, with Soper’s distorted vocals booming about ‘shadows spilling out of eyes’.

The rest of side 1 keeps this whole dark funk vibe going through ‘Dance of Good Sleep’, and ‘Birmingham City vs Tottenham Hotspur’. It’s interesting listening on cassette as this is a definite two-side release, with side b exploring much darker, noise based territories. Side B’s ‘You, Doorknocker Eyes’ features some terrifying percussive sounds and synths, and really continues this strange movie soundtrack feel to the whole thing.

This really is excellent stuff, and I do recommend you look further into the world of Fig Leaves. For access go:
www​.myspace​.com/​f​i​g​l​e​a​v​e​s​music

Thanks,
Quentin Woodrow