Fridge - "The Sun"

Fridge - Oram (Temporary Residence 2007)

Fridge – The Sun / Temporary Residence

I will be honest, this is a tough one for me to review. First of all, most heavy-hitting internet-indie-review hubs have already covered it (Pitchfork and Coke Machine Glow for example), and for the most part, they have pretty much hit the nail on the head with their disappointed sentiments towards the album. And secondly, that disappointed feeling typically sways me from using this pedestal to even talk about the album in question. I am a positive-minded person, so even though the more critical, “I’m assuming this is crap until you prove it’s worth my much coveted time” style of reviewing may be more popular and respectable(?), if I personally give something a chance and can’t get into it, I just move on because there are plenty of other albums out there that do pique my interest (that new Cinematic Orchestra, for example, I find cheesy and severely disappointing, so you won’t find me spending a few hours writing about it here). But this is Fridge we are talking about. This is an album I have been looking forward to for the last six years and I’ll be damned if I am not going to spend a least a little time with it for better or worse.

First of all, if you are not familiar with Fridge, I’ll give you a quick run down (if you are, you can skip to the next paragraph). Fridge is now famous for being the high school outfit for now solo luminaries Kieran Hebden (Four Tet, Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid, Joshua Falken) and Adem Ilhan (Adem). The equally talented drummer Sam Jeffers, who despite his lack of solo career, rounds out the trio and very much holds his own with these other two respected musical innovators. The group gained recognition throughout Britain in the late 90s with their stream of seven-inch and twelve-inch EPs along with a couple full-length albums on Output Records. In my opinion (and from what I have heard over the years, most others), their cerebral, unpredictable post-rock sound culminated with the first and only stateside release (until now), Happiness on Temporary Residence. Made up of hypnotic experimental instrumental innovations, the 2001 album helped create a respected platform for both the Four Tet and Adem solo projects to leap from, which for the most part left the band itself defunct.

About a year and a half ago now, I was enjoying the amazing free jazz of duo Fred Anderson and Hamid Drake, who were opening the Chicago notch of the first stateside Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid tour. Much to my joyous surprise, Hebden was standing right beside me, so I got the chance to talk to him for about half-an-hour before he performed. One of the first questions I asked him (and surprisingly to his excitement) was if there would ever be another Fridge record, and he exuberantly explained how they were in the process of putting the final touches on it and that he was excited to be collaborating with Ilhan and Jeffers again. Though I am somewhat underwhelmed with the fruits of this reunion, The Sun, I cannot completely hate on it because: 1. It is not really bad at all, but in the context of prior Fridge output, somewhat disappointing, 2. I sincerely doubt that the intentions of the trio were to reinvent the post-rock game with this record, but instead to once again enjoy matching the talents of one another.

Where Happiness concentrated more on the minimal tonal interaction of a few precise instruments with each song, The Sun is much less concentrated and much closer to a straight-ahead post-rock album, which is probably the most disappointing aspect with the players involved. Again, where Happiness would utilize odd instrumentation like trombone, melodica, children’s voices and glockenspiels, The Sun sticks almost completely with percussion, guitar, bass and electronics. So you are starting to see a pattern arise. But the musicianship is one aspect that has certainly progressed over the last six years. The trio used to accomplish their sound by immense slicing, replacing and tweaking in the post-production stage, but this album sounds much more live and in the moment. Songs like “Eyelids” and the probably the highlight of the album, “Oram”, sound more energetic than anything that has ever been released by Fridge, which is certainly something to enjoy. Jeffers in particular sounds as if the reigns were unleashed and he is able to explore more bombastic drum patterns to interlope with Hebden and Ilhan’s musical experimentations.

Like I just mentioned, “Oram” is the centerpiece of the album. Building from a barrage of drums and percussion, a loose Tortoise-like groove of guitar, xylophone and skittering kit drums create that hypnotic melodic-percussive mental rift that made post-rock so enchanting in the first place (though that was fifteen years ago now). “Clocks” works in a similar manner, but with a higher degree of instrumental experimentation. Odd hollow clicks line the drum breaks and electric guitar scathes lead into an increasingly climactic array of guitar-bass-electronic interaction. Differing from the typical rock groove of the album, “Comets” excels by sounding completely out-of-place. Wavering analog synth lines tango with acoustic piano and a drum machine while a bass lays down the melody and subtle nuances of glockenspiel and acoustic guitar add further color. And “Lost Time,” nestled near the end of the album, adds soft vocals care of Ilhan to the mix for a humming, enchanting and highly melodic approach to the drum-heavy record.

So as you can see, The Sun is not a completely bad record as some reviews have concluded, but with its relative straight-forwardness coming from such a creative cast of characters and in a genre that sorely needs a shot of adrenaline, it comes off underwhelming. Not to mention having us fans wait in shaking anticipation for six years certainly does not help the cause. But perhaps some good can come out of this; maybe the lukewarm reaction to the album will egg on Hebden, Ilhan and Jeffers to keep the Fridge collaboration alive and producing music on a more regular basis. One can only hope, because we certainly know at this point that when these three creative forces find themselves on an enjoyable and productive plateau, great music will be produced and our ears are the main benefactor.