Four years in the making Fat White Family return with their fourth album “Forgiveness Is Yours”.
An eclectic, chaotic yet always coherent album that takes no prisoners. Starting with the T S Eliot influenced “The Archivist” the album moves from the Pentangling of “John Lennon”, to the growling swaggering synths of “Polygamy is Only for the Chief”, taking in spoken word ( the harrowing “Today You Become A Man” ) & even shades of Robert Palmer in the insistent 80’s pop of “Work”.
Lyrically literary influences abound, the aforementioned T S Eliot, poet Zaffar Kunial, transgressive philosopher Georges Bataille amongst others.
Working with the forever ebbing & flowing line up of players & collaborators brothers Lias & Nathan Saoudi are the core songwriters with turns taken with long term band members Alex White & Adam Harmer & fellow travellers Jessica Winter & the esteemed Clive Langer.
Taking artistic cues from the Fluxus movement & especially Yoko Ono’s work visually, the album art is a exercise in minimalism, using a piece from Anna McDowell only embossed & pale grey imagery/text to draw you in.
The campaign will be launching with the torch ballad “Religion For One” as a standalone single in December. Lias says of the song
Abject narcissim is our only real code of conduct anymore. Everything is thinly veiled self interest. The free market post modern post social media condition constitutes a complete death of outwardness. We are smothered by the infinite present. We have swapped art for the history of art. The game is up. The party’s over. Etc etc etc…