The Fratellis--Costello Music

Founded on principals of “strange fruit” and always in pursuit of “the happilyest of sounds,” The Fratellis are three brothers (or are they?) from Glasgow, Scotland (or are they?). Put aside all the mysterious hype you’re bound to come across looking into this peculiar bunch, and you’re simply left with a pretty average punk-indie act with fun accents and bad hair. (Really bad hair). Costello Music is their debut album, and is disappointingly mostly fluff. Acoustic pieces like “Creepin’ Up The Backstairs” are well-done but are bland and fall short. The Fratellis’ power lies in the possessive power of some hideous garage punk band version of Franz Ferdinand: punchy guitar riffs and scratchy vocals, off-beat melodies that teeter on failure but come miraculously together in the end. A few golden tracks are included in this light, in particular the clever “Chelsea Dagger” and the explosively non-stop “Cuntry Boys and City Boys.” While the acoustic tracks are good and credit is due, they take up room where The Fratellis could be displaying their goofy snotty-punk-filling, coated in an indie-chocolate-layer deliciousness. The Fratellis sound more original crooning collective bar songs in “Baby Fratelli” than prancing through romance in “Whistle For The Choir.” All in all though, the album doesn’t live up to its potential, but is an interesting debut from a band finding its footing. One hopes that their “strange fruit” will someday yield The Fratellis’ “happilyest of sounds.” I would dearly like to hear it.

(Published at ComfortComes.com)