Bingo Fury – ‘Bats Feet For A Widow’ album review: The arrival of a dramatic debut
THE SKINNY: Bingo Fury claims to have read no more than three books in his adult life. It’s a fact you might find difficult to believe upon listening to his debut album, Bats Feet For A Widow, which seems to spill over in poeticism and wit. Perhaps less surprisingly, one of those three reads was a poetry collection penned by David Berman.
The influence of the Silver Jews songwriter pervades Fury’s first full-length offering, but it never overshadows the singularity of his voice. His words and the delivery he affords them are just as devastating and dazzling as his predecessor. They flit between sincerity and absurdity, tackling topics of love, longing and loaded fictional billionaires.
The jazz soundscapes that surround his references to small London venues and huge philosophical questions are experimental, but they’re never off-putting, a direction Fury was particularly intent on taking. “I was bored of experimental music just being dissonant or atonal – a lot of the people I was influenced by really challenged me but also had a euphoric atmosphere to their output.”
There are certainly moments of dissonance, of unease, on Bats Feet For A Widow, but it feels like Fury is there to hold your hand through it all, through his most turbulent emotions and most obscure references. Experimental sounds come from familiar objects such as wine glasses and house keys, and the spirituality of the church Fury recorded in seems to seep into the soundscapes it bore host to.
Bats Feet For A Widow is daring and dramatic, cinematic and contemplative, but it somehow resists pretension. It finds itself in the authenticity of Fury’s voice, one that will hopefully continue to cut through contemporary music.
For Fans Of: Chet Baker demos, black coffee, and unfulfilled GoodReads Reading Challenges.
A concluding comment from Elle’s boyfriend: “This is sick. I met Bingo Fury in Head of Steam in Headingley once. He was very nice and very ginger.”
Bats Feet For A Widow track by track:
Release date: February 16th | Label: The state51 Conspiracy
‘Carolina’s Theme’: A gorgeous introduction to the world of Bingo Fury. There’s almost as much silence as there is instrumentation on ‘Carolina’s Theme’, which intersperses the gradual growth of a jazz band with moments of stillness. [4/5]
‘Unlistening’: Pianos continue to guide the album on ‘Unlistening’, but the song also presents us with Fury’s exquisite vocals. Impossibly low, his words cut through the twinkling jazz soundscapes that surround them as he introduces themes of religion and doubt. [4/5]
‘Power Drill’: True to its name, ‘Power Drill’ steps Bats Feet For A Widow up a gear. Balladry is replaced with bouncing pianos and cosmic keys, as Fury repeatedly asserts, “I’ve got to be clean”. The song culminates in a sting of horns and glitches, a standout moment for the record. [4.5/5]
‘Mr Stark’: In one of the more accessible cultural references on the record, Fury finds his eyes buried in Marvel’s socialite superhero, Tony Stark. It’s not quite as striking as its predecessors, but it’s a demonstration of Fury’s more lighthearted lyricism. [3.5/5]
‘Centrefold’: Contemplation replaces charisma once more as the record reaches its midpoint or its centrefold. “Everything was holy,” he declares over sparse pianos, including Jaguar Shoes and flickering street lights, and it’s easy to believe him. [3.5/5]
‘Never Gonna Be A Dead Man’: Fury withdraws his references to wealthy iron men and obscure venues on another instrumental track. ‘Never Gonna Be A Dead Man’ is a soothing and cinematic jazz piece that barely surpasses one and a half minutes, unfortunately getting a little lost in the extremity of the work surrounding it. [3/5]
‘I’ll Be Mountains’: Fury breaks sentences in half like bread on ‘I’ll Be Mountains’, a track that reintroduces dissonance with uneasy pianos, unnerving whirrs and strange, clunky samples. It softens as it progresses, fading into twinkles and barely-there percussion, sparkling hard into midnight. [3/5]
‘My Cup Overflows’: The penultimate song pushes Fury’s words to the forefront once more, and they seem to be at their most honest. “I thought you were a place, rather than a person,” he declares over playful percussion, his delivery sitting somewhere between Berman and Nick Cave. It’s dramatic and daring. [3.5/5]
‘Leather Sky’: Fury brings his debut to a close with pain and hopeless longing in sonic form. Soft pianos and horns turn harsher as his words do the same. “You know, I’m trying to give you everything,” he sings. It almost seems like he could be talking to Bats Feed For A Widow. [4/5]
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