Red Snapper's new album has finally slapped onto record shop counters after a two year elapse since their last record, Making Bones.
To say the album has been a struggle to make would be an understatement. The band have endured everything from professional crisis (the loss of their manager, studio and having to re-record the whole album), personal tragedy (guitarist David's mother died) to medical mishap (bassist Ali broke his hand and almost lost the ability to play).
But, despite rumours of a split, the band have endured and returned with an album that both kicks the pace and sits back on a mature set of laurels.
The opening track, the Conrad inspired 'Keeping Pigs Together' (Ali was an English student), is a sublime slice of Snapper funk, that eases passage into 'Some Kind Of Kink', the first single to be taken from the album.
A wise choice for the single, 'Kink' slips in a cheeky but downright funky David Essex sample. 'Shellback', apart from having a snappy title, is funky, hard down beat, that settles the pace back onto its tail fins and takes on a brooding dub edge, stuffed with hip-hop funk and that trade mark Snapper horror-core atmosphere.
'Don't Go Nowhere' is the closest Snapper have so far got to writing a romantic ballad, which, considering two of their number are about have babies, is not before time. But being a Snapper ballad there are no gooey vocals, at least not human ones. Instead the slow funk groove is eventually led by the warbling of a falsetto tadpole.
The album's 'Like A Moving Truck' comes from 'The Rake', a Det led track with all the expected bubble gum machinery in tow.
Which brings us to 'The Rough And The Quick', destined to be the most talked about track on the album for its lyrics alone. The story goes the boys wrote the track and, thinking it had a sexy feel to it, asked new vocalist, Karim Kendra, to come up with lyrics. She said something like: "Mmm, yeah I can do sex", and penned:
"I want the kind of night that I read about,
the kind you find on the top shelf.
Ride a little rough and quick.
Come on my tongue
Lick my..."
And so on.
Ironically it's one of Snapper's more radio friendly offerings, but its chances of making the Radio 1 A list are limited, despite the fact that there aren't any of the key offensive words in the lyrics.
After the charged energy of 'The Rough And The Quick' we slip back into ballad territory, albeit a fucked up meandering take on the slowie that swaps between Crusaders meet Howie B and trombone led P-funkishness.
'I Stole Your Car' enters the dub bass line proper, while 'Alaska Street' takes us back to the heady days of hiring chamber orchestra's for back room shenanigans, before the beats kick in and put a boot into the assembled cellos and violins. Classic Rock this isn't.
Belladonna is equally atmospheric, blending ambient, classical, jazz and beats to at times stunning effect. 'They're Hanging Me Tonight' continues the cross cultural fusion, throwing everything from classical to acidic break beat via rock into the mix.
Red Snapper. Some kind of fish and a very strange band.
