Fang Island - "Asunder"

I distinctly remember when I had first heard of Brooklyn's Fang Island, back when Maps & Atlases was still on the Sargent House roster and I relied very much on Myspace to tell me what I should be listening to. And yet for some odd reason, and despite that during 2010 I had seen numerous publications talking about them, I filed them away for later and never really drew them out until today when a stray tweet featuring their new single from Under the Radar caught my eye.

What a mistake that was. While Fang Island has moved away from the purely instrumental rock of its early days but even as the words filtered in, the instrumentals have kept a noticeable and impressive level of importance. Fang Island is more than your dime-a-dozen Brooklyn band which makes the release of their third album, entitled Major, a calendar-marking event. New album cut "Asunder" sounds like it could be right alongside any Fang Island era track. And yet the track has a kind of newness to it, there's a wealth of ideas that the band properly channel to give it a multi-tiered level of enjoyment that's much more than it's ear-catching upbeat beat-driven jam. The melody versus counter melody in the guitars in the first instrumental break is one of those moments that just makes your jaw gape. If anything it just proves Fang Island's talent, taking their place among those instrumental rock titans like Explosions in the Sky and Collections of Colonies of Bees, a place that's they deserve.



Fang Island's Major is out July 24th on Sargent House. Mark your calendar, you don't want to miss it.

(via Under the Radar)