Fear Of Men‘s debut full length Loom was a strong debut, easily earning a place as one of my favourite releases of 2014 and their latest album Fall Forever looks like a sure bet to also make it onto my list of faves for this year. The new album is an extension of what the Brighton band were doing on Loom both sonically and lyrically, but singer Jessica Weiss has taken a much more direct and personal approach to her songwriting this time around.
In a recent interview with Paper Mag, Weiss described the new album as having “a lot of intense emotional stuff: Intense happiness and intense loss.” It’s an apt description of the moody tone reflected in much of the band’s music – it’s dark, but not quite gloomy and in many ways there’s something uplifting about it that does come across in their live show.
In concert, Weiss has taken to focusing more on just her vocals, spending maybe only about half of her time on stage at The Garrison playing guitar and the rest of the time swaying and gesticulating to the music as she led the band through numbers like “Trauma” and “Island,” bringing a more direct emotional connection to the music.