Fridge

Fridge are one of those bands that helped shape my own musical journey while growing up. Releasing the, quite frankly, amazing 2001 album "Happiness" in my late teens certainly helped develop my taste for experiments between the rock and electronic worlds. I regard that record as highly as Radiohead's "Kid A" or Labradford's "Praizion". Each of those records have influenced me in some way or another throughout the years and are responsible for what I now consider some of my favourite music of all time.

But to the band themselves, they are probably better known in some circles, for their side-projects, than their ground-breaking main project. A 6 year hiatus has made sure of that. One member, Adem Ilhan, spent most of that time recording in the electronic/folk field, including the critically acclaimed "Homesongs", while Kieran Hebden is more famously recognised as Four Tet. If my memory serves me correctly, the remaining member, Sam Jeffers, took some time out to concentrate on his photography studies.

The good news, though, is Fridge will be returning with 5th album, "The Sun", through Temporary Residence in May/June. Thanks to Elastic Heart, who have the finger on the pulse, they have an mp3 available to download. From a personal viewpoint, this is a highly anticipated record and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way.

So Fridge are due to return and by the sounds of this mp3 have significantly moved the goalposts again. Eschewing the cut-up guitar, piano and percussion experiments of "Happiness", "Eyelids" is a thundering slice of discordant instrumental rock, with some electronic production flourishes, courtesy of Hebden no doubt. It's more Fugazi than Funkstörung and a tad unexpected. But then Fridge have always been able to confound the critics and baffle their fans. By the time we catch up, they will be off on a completely different tangent.

Head over to Elastic Heart for that mp3