Saturday 8 August 2015

Farnsworth - Farnsworth EP

Article by KevW


With Farnsworth being the name of more than one place, you can easily stumble upon various town bands when searching for this lot. To confuse matters further, there's another indie/rock band from Massachusetts who go by the same name. So just to be clear, this particular Farnsworth are from Charleston, West Virginia, they're a trio who've been making alt-rock tunes for around four years now, and they've just put out this self-titled EP. As they say themselves, they combine melodies from the '60s, classic rock from the '70s, and merge it into a form of scuzzy alt-rock that wouldn't have been out of place in the post-grunge scene of the '90s. So a little convention and a little originality then, but four fine new songs are the latest result of their hybridization.

The opening track was probably a clear choice. 'On The Ground Again' is like Dinosaur Jr. joining forces with Teenage Fanclub and contains those classic melodies which are cocooned in a good layer of fuzz. Plus, the singalong "oooh ooohs" and handclaps make for a catchy introduction. 'Priorities' is closer to conventional rock, but it's too grubby to be lumped in with boring traditionalists and has a pinch of soul thrown in for good measure. 'For You' takes the bluesy blueprint of bands like Cream and adds some Neil Young-esque guitar; it's weighty without ever really approaching metal, and still sits firmly in the alt-rock category. Finally, '20 Days' cranks up the pace again and sees them ending on a high with a stomping blues-rock track which is again influenced by Neil Young, but if his soft voice was much more gravelly. A solid EP that will find favour with a wide variety of guitar music fans.



Farnsworth's website

Stream the EP in full





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