Little Fish

There’s not a lot to Little Fish, just Juju Sophie on vocals/guitar and Nez Greenaway on Drums, but by gum do they rock. They’ve been around a little while, but this year has seen them up their profile playing shows with the likes of Placebo and Them Crooked Vultures, and garnering good radio and TV coverage. All that experience has served them well as this is a very confident debut.

The gritty Darling Dear opens the album the metronomic drum underpins the song while Juju’s vocals and guitar scratch away over it. The raunchy, thudding Bang! Bang! follows. The recent single Am I Crazy? is a dense, pounding rocker, French lyrics and all.

It’s a terrific opening salvo followed by the mellower, but harrowing and swirling Hammond organ infused Heroin Dance, probably the standout track on the album. It’s also a break from the rather one paced drum sound, though it’s back again on the lush but ordinary Sweat N Shiver.

Elsewhere Die Young is a downbeat, grooving stonerish track, while Whiplash is fast and loose garage rock. Rounding off the album is the plaintive, slightly Floydian and rather excellent Sorry State.

There’s no doubting the overall power of the material on this album; Linda Perry has buffed the sound a little, but their visceral energy hasn’t been compromised. It’s not perfect; the drums can make it sound a little one dimensional at times, though the addition of the Hammond fleshes out the sound but doesn’t overwhelm it. Juju Sophie’s voice is a revelation, with Perry coaxing a surprising range and subtlety out of her. Patti Smith is probably the main vocal reference, but there are elements of Siouxsie Sioux too.

Little Fish have produced an album of various hues, that takes a few listens to appreciate, but its well worth the effort.