Fizzy Blood – Pink Magic EP
Pink Magic is the third EP from Leeds' Fizzy Blood and it comes across as something of a stopgap ahead of the arrival of their debut full length record
'I am the last man standing,' swaggers Benji Inkley on rolling opener Pink Magic and Fizzy Blood are out the gates with a pop. Polished by Alex Newport (Bloc Party, The Mars Volta) these songs are unabashedly big, with a bolshy edge that says 'subtlety’s for southerners.' While the lyrics are not exactly ancient wisdom, there’s more going on musically than you might expect with electro throbs, guitar stabs and an anthemic chorus. It’s no surprise Radio 1 playlisted it.
Elsewhere, this Leeds five-piece strut their way through the streetwise CFO, cutting shapes with the scrappy, unapologetic energy of The Cribs while the deft melody of the nocturnally inclined Strangers owes a debt to Arctic Monkeys’ tales of street life. These avenues and byways have been well-trodden and if you’re not keen on the last decade of mainstream British indie rock, it’s easy to write Fizzy Blood off as too passe, dependent on chest beating choruses and lager-soaked anthemics. And sometimes the band don’t help themselves.
Illusion starts of as a big dumb glam rock stomp enlivened by Inkley coaxing his voice into some interesting shapes but it settles inexorably into a meat and potatoes mid-tempo groove.
Having supported both Sheffield metalcore troupe While She Sleeps and hotly tipped indie poppers Spring King, they’re obviously not afraid of a challenge, but if Fizzy Blood are going to last longer than bubbles in a can of juice their debut album will need to pack a few more surprises.
Listen to: Pink Magic