Staff Reviews

FrYars - Dark Young Hearts

Review by James Lawrenson

Synthesisers are ever present in the modern age. You would have though the eighties would have killed them off. Now they dominate, in this pretend wave of female popstars, and in the synthpop indiestars, pretending this didn't get boring twenty years back. frYars, one London man named Ben Garrett plus friends, clearly recognises the mysterious power of the synthesiser.»

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rough trade exclusive with a bonus 5 track cd featuring two tracks from the first ep never before on cd, an original mix of 'olive eyes' by luke smith and remixes by get shakes and stephen hague. debut album from fryars featuring production by luke smith (clor) and stephen hague (of new order, pet shop boys and omd fame) and guest vocals from depeche mode's dave gahan. the album is released on own label, fryarcorp, which has been funded by fan based investment site bandstocks. 'dark young hearts seems' to have been pushed back for ages, but it's worth the wait. a natural widescreen expansion of the charmingly idiosyncratic pop persona that the 19 year old built up over his past 'ides' and 'perdify' eps - which featured self-proclaimed poptastic gems and general top tunes 'chocolate', 'olive eyes' and 'the ides' - the latter two of which feature on 'dark young hearts'. the album is a doorway to a boundless imagination, a discofied electro-pop dancefloor dozen, a simultaneously melancholic and uplifting textbook of electronic emotion. think a mix of roxy music, magneric fields and hot chip.
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