Fad. Silverbacks

The extremely colourful artwork is a good announcement of what the listener can expect to hear on Fad. Silverbacks releases its first album, after two singles, that is as colourful as it is good.

Silverbacks is the next band playing alternative, slightly punky rock with a singer with a deepish voice sing-talking himself through his songs from Dublin. Whatever else is going on in Ireland's capital, producing alternative rockbands is going quite well, thank you.

Yes, you can hear a little from The Murder Capital and Fontaines D.C. on Fad. More importantly Silverbacks holds its own easily with over 50 years of pop/rock music having its back. The band members know the music their parents liked and perhaps even their grandparents, well. The band knows its way into great pop tunes and can add the kind of twist like I remember from a band like XTC around 1980.

The result is songs that go for it and songs that hold back. 'Fad '95' is such a song. Elementary music, though of an alternative kind, under a pop vocal melody lauding politicians in denim. Singer (and guitarist) Daniel O'Kelly has the exactly right voice for this music. That slightly bored sounding tone expressing interest in the right moments. The surprise is when bass player Emma Hanlon takes on the vocals, giving the band a different tone that works quite well actually.

Having listened to Fad several times by now, what strikes me most is that the band is a master at holding back, where it easily could have gone all out. So, yes, 'A Heroes Death', the fairly recently released Fontaines D.C. album, does come to mind. Of course many of the songs on Fad have been recorded long before 'A Hero's Death' was released, so it is more about what is in the Dublin water at this point in time, than copying a successful album. The first single on Fad, 'Dunkirk', was released in 2018. So before 'Dogrels'.

The same goes for the singing of Daniel O'Kelly. He sing-talks himself through the song and there's the XTC I remember again. What Silverbacks has over bands from 40 years ago, is the time and experiences that has passed since then. The band uses it to its advantage in a great way. All over the album are little sounds and guitar bursts that set me off on one memory or other. But hardly ever without distracting me from what is going on. Fad is good in its own right. The guitarists work together excellently. There are so many melody lines and rhythms bouncing up and down between them, overdubs and all.

Behind them is a solid rhythm section. Much more straightforward than the Dublin band mentioned a few times already. The bass can be tight or have a great melody for itself, like in 'Fad '95'. Emma Hanlon takes a musical lead spot for herself, before we hear her as a singer in the next song, 'Klub Silverrücken'.

Taking into account this is Silverbacks first full length album, there is so much room to improve even further, by playing more; as soon as possible. I'm certainly looking forward to a show when things are back to normal (as possible). I'm also convinced that Silverbacks will grow. There are so many moments on Fad that show inventiveness and promise. A lot of work went into creating and crafting the songs and melodies. This is what makes me so interested in what is in store for us later on in the decade. For now I'm enjoying Fad to the max and invite you to do so as well.

Wo.

You can listen to and order Fad here:

https://silverbacks.bandcamp.com/album/fad


or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g