Fat Dog are a band on the up and up.
High-profile support slots, a cataclysmic debut single and a reputation for chaotic live shows earned the band a cult following and a spot on the roster at legendary indie label Domino. After months of touring and unending superlatives from the music press, their debut record WOOF has finally landed.
WOOF is an intriguing mix of feral chaos, sludgy punk, Klezmer, funk, dance and balls-to-the-wall sleaze. The opener, ‘Vigilante’ is a prime example of what this band are all about: a bizarre yet brilliant piece, with a biblical-style recital of verse, which acts as a prologue to the record. It builds in a completely over-the-top, cinematic style before launching into a breakdown so funky it’s almost vulgar. The sheer size of this tune is a sign of things to come, with FD and producer James Ford working to create utter monoliths of funk-punk backed with dance and electro beats.
The band clearly don’t take themselves too seriously, and the atmosphere created throughout WOOF is second to none with insidious and inescapably funk-laden grooves matched up with off-the-wall, often comedic and always intriguing lyrics. The words move from faux-religious to fictional police chases and just about anything else you can imagine: it’s charming in its ways and paired with the completely un-nuanced words, makes for a stellar combo.
There’s more of the same throughout ‘Wither’ and ‘Clowns’. Both are decent tunes in their own right, but already you’re left with the feeling of wanting more: Fat Dog are exceptional at what they do, but the record is a little lacking in terms of, well, anything else. They have their unique and interesting style, but a good deal of WOOF sounds exactly like the rest of it: the band themselves are a left turn away from post-punk, but the album lacks a moment of intrigue or a part that comes unexpectedly out of left-field. For a band so ‘out there’, it feels as though Fat Dog have played WOOF with quite a straight bat.
This sensation isn’t helped by five of the nine tracks coming out as singles before the album release: there isn’t much of anything to get your teeth stuck into within WOOF for those who’ve been following the band for even a few months. Even the album’s boisterous and brilliant centrepiece ‘King of The Slugs’ falls a little flat on the album: the cut is monumental, you can be sure of that and the bizarre, funky and moshpit-inspiring number is a sensational piece of work but already it feels old, having dropped just over twelve months ago.
The rest of the record plays out in similar style with ‘I am the King’ and ‘And So It Came To Pass’ shining as standouts in the final act of WOOF. Make no bones about it, the musicianship and production on this record are top-drawer, but as a listener, you can’t escape the feeling of willing Fat Dog to get even weirder with it, change the narrative somewhat, or divert in any way from their formula; however great that formula may be in the live setting.
WOOF is a complex beast for this reason: truly, the tunes are monumental and their standing as a live act is unlike many others in the scene, but it doesn’t translate as well as it should to the studio recording.
