Review Summary: High-five hangover.
For every action, there is reaction. For every wild, all night party, there's the cleanup the next day. For every monumental, incredibly epic high-five, there's a lingering sting in your hand. Go ahead, hide it from everyone, don't let them think you're a little whimp.
Fang Island, though, they're not above showing off their red, post-high-five'd hands.
It makes sense to be let down by Major. After the bombastic explosion of sound that was their self-titled debut, hearing this mellow indie-pop affair felt like an odd mixture of disappointment and anticipation. When would the band kick back into gear? The further I traveled into the track list, the more I realized that it simply wasn't coming. How pitiful! Their biggest strength on Fang Island was the rocking triple guitar leads, the catchy hooks, the chantable lyrics. But on Major, they seem to have exchanged it for a more simple, generic indie sound. Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, etc. This is garbage! 2.5 out of 5!
It took me a long time to let Major escape my mind. And when I returned to it out of mere curiosity, I expected nothing different. However, once I dropped my expectations to hear Fang Island Part 2, I discovered an incredibly luscious, relaxing collection of tracks. The building piano and distorted guitar feedback on Kindergarten, along with a line that perfectly sums up Fang Island's mantra ("All I know, I learned in kindergarten"), provides an incredible opening track that speaks for what direction the band is going on this album. Mellow. Calm. Positive. As opposed to the over the top party-anthem that was their self-titled, Fang Island chose to create a follow up that provides an alternate take on their sound. They are able to take a genre that so frequently is devoid of any energy and inject life into it. Tracks like "Asunder", "Chompers", and "Victorinian" all show that the band hasn't folded their fun and wild sound, yet they tone it down enough to provide a more subtle variation. This album is not a party album. It's a morning-after album.
The vocals take center stage on this album, as opposed to the riffs which dominated their debut. In a way, they work just as similarly. Where Fang Island brought to the table hard hitting, insanely catchy guitar solos, Major brings well crafted, spanning vocal harmonies. The lyrics themselves act as a mirror image of the songs they're sung over. "I hope I never understand", "If you wanna fall in love, you can do it", and "I want to seek out the angles" work just as well as uppity synths to convey this feeling of positivity and happiness. It's not given with a hint of irony, you're not meant to think too hard about it. Fang Island is pretty much the Andrew W.K. of indie-pop.
Just let it play, because Major isn't meant to be taken all that seriously. At face value, it's one of the better indie-pop albums released in 2012. It's not an evolution of the sound Fang Island had on their self titled, nor is it a deeper examination. It's a forward step, a new angle, a logical progression. It's not as energetic and over the top because it wasn't created to be. It's an album of fun, catchy, youthful indie-pop songs. In a genre filled with hollow, energy-void bands like Foster the People and Bastille, isn't that all we can ask for?
After every giant explosion of sound, there's bound to be a period of recollection. To me, Major is just that. It's a breather, a recuperating period. It does what it tries to do exceedingly well.
So go ahead, slam that next high-five.
Major will be here for you when your palms are red and stinging.
