Fight Bite “Emerald Eyes” Review

Thanks to Gorilla vs. Bear, I have had a copy of Fight Bite’s excellent single “Swissexlover” floating around my computer for what seems like forever now. Every so often my shuffled playlist lands on that gem of a dream pop song, and I frustrate myself by frantically trying to buy the rest of the unreleased album. That is until late October, when Emerald Eyes finally became available to me and the rest of the discerning public. I usually don’t buy albums off of the strength of a few singles, but in Fight Bite I felt I could take a chance (female fronted drowse-pop is generally a safe bet with me).

Luckily I wasn’t disappointed. The ten song LP is getting near constant spin in my apartment lately, filling a place in my soul that until then was mostly fed by Beach House’s Devotion. The pairing of Leanne Macomber and Jeff Louis III takes relatively simple beats and then drenches them in soft distortion and fuzzily layered vocals, making for a sound that is at times sweetly innocent and others Quaalude poppingly melancholic.

In addition to “Swissexlover” (one of the best tracks of 2008), “Spring Rain” is a saccharine slow burner that mixes some spoken word amongst Macomber’s breathless whisperings (Warning, do not listen to while viewing an Obama montage unless you really want to cry). For something on the poppier side there is “Widow’s Peak,” a song that sounds a bit like an Eighties’ dance track that was accidentally drowned in a vat of honey. It suffers a bit in recording quality, but is otherwise a lovely upbeat jewel. “Age of Faith” picks up the pace a little more with some creative organ lines, but a relatively uninspired beat. In fact if there is anything at all wrong with this album it is that the backing drum machine has the tendency to get a little stale. I can’t help but to think songs like “Never Let Go” and “Emerald Eyes” wouldn’t be a little better if they could find a way to make the beats a little less monotonous.

Really though, the overall wall of hazy sound is enough even to make the stagnant drumming a non-issue. I am confident that this will go on to make my list of the year’s top releases. If you aren’t as predispositioned towards sulky pop as I am, however, you may find that you have a quite different opinion.

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