Bleep

This album features in the top ten albums of 2013

Bristol duo Fuck Buttons’ third album Slow Focus saw them cement their widely appealing, but uncompromising sound with an admirable flair. Lead single ‘Brainfreeze’ is a statement of the groups brazen intent, with blunted post-punk toms underpinning grandiose layers of synthetic drone which feedback into huge washes of biting distortion again and again, creating something like the sci-fi cousin of My Bloody Valentine.

It is the interaction of the glossy, naïve sounds of arpeggiated synths or midi drums and more aggressive ‘live’ guitar distortions which appeal as much here as on the churning romp of ‘The Red Wing’, where the drums are placed subtly at a distance, allowing walls of texture to do the pummelling. On ‘Year Of The Dog’, electronic elements are pushed to breaking point as a trance riff continues to roll through walls of high synthetic screams, and ‘Stalker’ doesn’t let up either, with aggressive low end stabs of analogue electronics. The highlight is ‘Prince’s Prize’, which shows the duo’s full scope in its combination of floating vampire movie synths and a sweat dripping toy funk line. Slow Focus shows Fuck Buttons at the height of their powers, taking in ever more influences and channelling them into something coherent and hard-hitting.