We’ve waited for the right time to give FOE a push on The Recommender, following her appearance on our fifth mixtape, back in May, with the thunderous hit-in-waiting, Charity Cases. With all the slacker beauty of Elastica’s Justine Frieschmann at her most deadly, this 20 year old from Fleet will push all of your buttons at once. In the UK we have a saturation of talented female solo alt-pop artists, so it’s going to take something special to break through and keep winning the inevitable comparisons. FOE, real name Hannah Clark, has the musical craft, the killer looks, the swagger and the style that’s required. Interestingly, she also reminds us of the period in time when all the female pop artists worked on matching the male artists for attitude, aggression and independence – the likes of P J Harvey, or Courtney Love, or Donita Sparks, were all empowered frontwomen during their respective periods in music and this has a genetic bloodline with Hannah’s music too. She informed us that she’s inspired by the likes of Nirvana, Pixies, Sonic Youth and all those artists “that do whatever the fuck they want“. This defiance appears throughout her music and that attitude aims its shots directly at the belly of grunge. Sub Pop would have snapped her up in an instant twenty years ago. All that fuzzed and dirty distortion on the guitars and the alluring, can’t-be-bothered vocals are very much Seattle-born. However, it’s a little unfair to suggest that her tracks are purely reflecting a time long gone, for even though she holds up a mirror to this period in music, there’s still a contemporary stare coming back at you from deep inside those irresistible, dark eyes. On the track, A Handsome Stranger Called Death, she produces a theatrical, melodic vocal, over the styled, slower pace – something the likes of Nirvana deliberately rejected. Also gone are the elements of thrash and punk, as each track is packed with new ideas. She’s produced by her “partner in crime“, Adam Crisp, from Entrepreneurs, who you may know from his amazing remixes of the likes of Marina’s Mowglis Road, among many others. Hannah’s provided vocals on his solo work too and told us that you will likely see them performing at each other’s live sets. Like it or not, it’s perhaps what the industry will be looking for next, once the 80s obsession is over, and FOE brings us the perfect modern mixture of early 90s with a very contemporary twist. You have been warned. (MB)
FOE – CHARITY CASES
FOE – CHARITY CASES (IS TROPICAL REMIX)
