A Fine Frenzy - Bomb In A Birdcage

Posted by Paul Schofield on 09.08.2009

See this is how Sylvester should have killed Tweety Pie…



I don’t know where I first heard about A Fine Frenzy, but somehow she appeared on my radar, like a Russian sub hiding behind a bench on which a tramp sleeps, drowning in his own liquids. I’m sure that Seattle’s own Alison Sudol smells a lot nicer than that scenario, for she is A Fine Frenzy. The first song of hers I heard was “Almost Lover,” an absolutely divine ballad that I expected to be all over TV shows with emotional scenes. Such as The Hills. Can I insert a Chandler face here? No? Half a Chandler face? Rats. For those that are interested, my favourite is Whitney. I digress. Upon hearing “Almost Lover,” I was dumbstruck. Why wasn’t this blip on my radar any bigger? Why just a sole Russian sub, and not the whole damn fleet? Is this because of Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson’s inability to supply convincing Russian accents in K-19: The Widowmaker? And why would they name a submarine after Barry Windham anyway? Why was there no mushroom cloud emanating from an explosion that kills her musical rivals and would be fallers-by-the-wayside? Intrigued and hungry, I ventured deeper into the jungle. Papaya is not filling.

I cut my way through the mental foliage, the jungle only getting thicker with each new illegally downloaded song. I chose to ignore the option of downloading ‘a fine frenzy sexy blond screaming orgasm cowgirl fuck,’ believing it would only sound like Christina Aguilera’s next song anyway by that description. I discovered “Hope For The Hopeless” and “You Picked Me” as if they were lost indigenous tribes. I offered them fire, they offered me chocolate truffles. It was a fair deal, though how they wrapped them was beyond me. Each new song was like a new ray of light through the canopy of leaves, and before I knew what day it wasn’t, I had downloaded the entirety of her debut album, One Cell In The Sea. A truly beautiful piece of work by anyone’s estimation, unless Gill from The Simpsons is this week working as an estimator. I wouldn’t trust that guy to hold my sandwich while I tied my laces. He’d probably be outwitted by a mentally retarded possum.



Further information was required. Wikipedia told me that she was big in Austria, Switzerland, Poland, France, and… gulp… Germany? How was this so? How could a country whose national dish is pickled cabbage and their idea of musical greatness is David Hasselhoff have cottoned on to this most wondrous of acts before the rest of the civilized world? There was better news, as her music was featured on the soundtrack of the hit movie Sleepwalking. I assume it was a hit anyway, any film with Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson and Dennis Hopper must be good, right? Well, only if the characters were Theron in Monster, Woody in Natural Born Killers and Hopper in Speed. Some film that would be. But at least there was progress. A Fine Frenzy deserves to have her songs heard, and they fit suitably with the mediums of TV and film. Her songs have also appeared on House, yet another medically themed show, as if there aren’t enough of them already.

So, her new album, Bomb In A Birdcage. You had me from ‘bomb.’ Is this enough to propel her into the big time, with Peter Griffin mocking her on Family Guy, or is it back to the beer halls of Berlin for a Bratwurst. Always knew that German A Level would come in handy, and alliteration is always an advancement of adventures. Anal.

1. "What I Wouldn't Do" - 2:57
2. "New Heights" - 4:12
3. "Electric Twist" - 4:31
4. "Blow Away" - 4:09
5. "Happier" - 3:30
6. "Swan Song" - 3:43
7. "Elements" - 3:24
8. "The World Without" - 4:15
9. "Bird of the Summer" - 3:18
10. "Stood Up" - 4:48
11. "The Beacon" - 3:22
The first thing you should know is that upon listening to this album on we7.com, I was alerted instantly to ‘You Might Also Like’ section, where they indicate that you will also like U2, Elvis, Robbie Williams, Destiny’s Child, and Queen. It is based on this that I believe the people of we7 to be idiots. No one will also like Robbie Williams, even if the song featured is a recording of cats being strangled underwater with a chainsaw providing percussion. Luckily that was the only major problem I encountered for the next 47 minutes.

Opening track “What I Wouldn’t Do” is the breath of fresh air that the aforementioned cats never got to snatch. Perfect summery folkpop, I could almost hear the squeaks of the lederhosen as Germans got on their feet, ready to dance down the street on their way to invading yet another country. A good start then. If that was the summery song, “New Heights” would be the spring song. Is autumn really too hard to spell? Ah fuck it, let’s call it fall. The music soars into a shimmering head nodder, and Alison’s voice is perfectly suited to this. If the previous album showcased her voice, then this album is to showcase her songwriting, as her voice is so far quite understated, but the songs are of high quality. Until “Electric Twist” anyway, where a simple backing allows her voice to come to the front, and while it may not be a spectacular, octave reaching voice, it just fits to the music. The simple things are the most effective sometimes. Probably explains why people voted for Bush.



“Blow Away” is remarkably uptempo, sweet, and sparkly. Clap along, you know you want to. So far, these are songs made for radio and videos, not to be featured in TV or ads. “Happier” is closer to a ballad, but maybe not close enough. It’s still nice though. But is nice enough? Do you want the nice girl, or the cheerleader? What, you want both? They do both have their appeals. “Swan Song.” An all out ballad. A refreshing change of pace from the all out pop of the first five songs, and this is perhaps what Alison excels at. Could do without the intrusive sounding drums though, just take them out completely and it has that nice stripped back feel to it. It’s still a great song, possibly the best so far, but it stops it from being on a par with “Almost Lover.”

“Elements” has an interesting beginning, but it gets a touch too middle of the road for the chorus. A whole song in the style of the start would be better I feel. This one, if anything, is a bit too TV. Alison’s voice at the finale is still stunning mind you. “The World Without” starts like Coldplay’s “Speed Of Sound” before Alison stamps her own authority over it. Ooh, this is better, keeping me on my toes with sudden and drastic bursts of energy. These bursts of life are well received, as is the slow down in the middle. It’s a well constructed song, and a memorable one. “Bird Of The Summer” sounds exactly like you would imagine it would. Warm folk with strawberries and cream. Nice and chillaxed. That doesn’t make it a tame effort by any means, some songs do not need the sense of urgency to take them forward. “Stood Up” has that urgency, a different sounding proposal, but not different in its value. It’s one of the best songs on offer, and is another string to Alison’s bow. I never understood that idiom. A bow only needs one string, does it not? Final song “The Beacon” is an absolute gem. Just when I thought this album wouldn’t have a song to compare with “Almost Lover” she saves the best till last. If anything, this album could have used one more song like this instead of one of the poppier ones. But it is a fitting way to end, and one that reinstates belief.

The 411: Overall, there’s no denying that this is a good album, that the songs deserve to be heard on their own merits or through other mediums. There is no denying that A Fine Frenzy have kept the ability to create meaningful ballads, and also improved the overall songwriting skills. My only problem with this is that I still prefer One Cell In The Sea as an album, I just think the quality of the songs is slightly higher. Maybe it’s because it was ballad heavy, and this newer album sounds somewhat more ‘commercial,’ and that has tainted my view of it. A good second album, but not as strong as its predecessor.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]