The Fugue

Schizophrenic.

I can think of no better way to describe the Fugue, as well as not being able to think of how to even pronounce that. The Fugue are more on and off than a Florida storm system. No doubt driven by passion and intensity, they’re as ambiguous as a band as they are hard to musically describe. This band is a seizure in the form of vocals and an electric guitar. The New York City five-piece rage and swagger, and you can feel the arrogance dripping off them between white hot squalls of distorted guitar.

Noise-punk at its core, the Fugue are about as inclined to follow conventional song structures and musical rules as (insert clever analogy here). Operating under no terms but their own, the band rage through the sheer ridiculous amount of intensity put into these songs. Discordant chord progressions, start and stop time signatures, and vocals that shred singer Joe Somar’s voice and your eardrums equally, the band rarely let up. In their more subdued moments, if they can even be characterized as such, sound like a more intense Les Savy Fav. The swagger that I mentioned earlier, arrogant as it may come off, could potentially be their most endearing quality, as at no other point in the cacophonous fifteen-minute duration is there even a slight pause for reprieve. This would be quite the band to see in a live setting, as I’m sure the antics the band pulls off are just as ridiculous as the music they’re playing.

“Molasses the Animal,” while the shortest track on the EP, is probably the best display of talent as well. The band can be found at their discordant, chaotic, noisy best, with thick basslines and high pitch shrieks over the boisterous background guitar and drum attack. This is dirty, gritty, and raw, everything that punk should be, only elevated and played with intent to blow out every speaker, subwoofer, and amplifier around in the process.

After four songs of face-melting, noisy, frenetic assault, you’re probably going to want to lay down and relax for a bit. And if just an EP does this much damage, hell will be set loose if ever a full-length is to come around.