Following their very enjoyable but perhaps slightly cautious debut album All Our Favourite Stories, a three year absence from production probably left many fans of the Nottingham quintet anticipating, or even expecting, some semblance of progression from their next release. Thankfully, the unimaginative and frankly bemusing change of name from Dog is Dead to simply D.I.D is in stark contrast with the ambition shown on this EP.
The first track of the same name is instantly accessible indie pop – crisp vocals and a delicate verse, with an anthemic chorus bemoaning the woes of a desperately deteriorating relationship: “All we do is eat fast food / All we do is fool around / All we do it means nothing”. It carries realism and sadness with characteristically refreshing harmonies evoking the same hospitable sound as the first album.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itDBRFYbuKc&w=740&h=422]
However, he second track,‘Gameplan’, offers little in the way of inspiration, with a lazy bass line paving the way for an ultimately redundant and anticlimactic hook – the track fails to fulfil the ability the band show elsewhere in the EP and shouldn’t be pursued as their default sound. Very listenable, but that’s as far as it goes.
Next up, ‘Hotel’, is easily the best track on the record. The band stray from their fragile guitar melodies to produce a robust, distorted grungy riff, which frames a chorus full of sound in an eclectic concoction of synthetic bliss. The final track, ‘Big Lie’, demonstrates a fusion of both D.I.D’s vocal and instrumental ability – beginning with angelic acapella and rising through a crescendo to a punchy guitar riff.
More than enough to grace the pubescent vocal chords of a few denim-jacket-wearing hipsters in the hotboxed backroom of an unremarkable house party, Fast Food serves as a nice taster for an upcoming second album – both catering for the fans of old and wetting the appetites of new customers. Bon Appetit.
Words by Jed Gaffin
@Jedgaffin
Agreed ?