Now Playing: Fantasy Rainbow – ‘O, Weirdo’
Fantasy Rainbow - 'O, Weirdo'
Now Playing – every week, a roundtable of our writers will give their views on one of the recently-released new tracks. It’s as simple as that! If you want to tell us what you think of the song, feel free to leave a comment below.
Track: ‘O, Weirdo’ by Fantasy Rainbow
Average grade: 6.6
Richard: I like this; it has a pertinent lazy summer vibe. Rough around the edges and scrappily produced, it retains a certain earnest quality. I’ve detected a bit of a nouveau-slacker sound coming through in recent months, young folk tend to be developing a melodic apathy about life, and culturally we could be in for another round of mumblecore movies and sarcastically clever indie pop. 7/10
Kenny: With it’s impressive catwang-like cover, this is a disgustingly accomplished new piece of work from one so young. Fey, folky and also lo-fi countryish, an album’s worth of the same can’t hit the shelves quick enough - 8/10.
Tom: Did I collapse your lungs when I took your breath away?’ Hilariously disengaged ditty from a man with a lot of Pavement in his collection, and quite possibly the odd Beck album. Can’t really complain about influences like those when they result in good-humoured indie that knows how to laugh at itself. Take note, just about everyone else. 7/10
Rosie: For some reason I knew I’d like this about 2 seconds in. Perhaps it’s the jangly guitar riff at the beginning, the chilled out vocals or the rolling melody. Whatever it is, it works. Some great imagery in the lyrics, too. 7/10
Harry: The progression of Fantasy Rainbow over the past year has been absolutely incredible – it has developed from being a loop-pedalled bedroom outfit to releasing singles of this quality and touring the country in such a short space of time. I love the track itself, from the title to the twirling guitar and thoughtful drum machine. The music is filled with a youthful promise and euphoric chord progressions whilst the lyrics combine intense anxiety and much darker matters, striking a beautiful contrast throughout the song. 8/10
Craig: Flatly mixed high school rock, which is not a bad thing. Yeah, I too was once 16 and listened to Ben Kweller and all sorts of more obscure-leaning light pop and LOVED it. Couldn’t get enough. It’s lovely, simple and direct. The problem is, though, that this kind of music tends to wash into the background. By the end of the song, I had forgotten it was playing. 5/10
Anna: Perfectly pleasant song reminiscent of ’90s California psychedelic indie pop. I like the laid-back vocals and I would listen to it again, but all in all I wouldn’t go beyond ‘pleasant’. 6 (+0.5 if the band name changes by the end of the year)
Stef: It has that stoner drawl this track. Kind of brings out slacker vibes a bit, which are contrasted by that summery acoustic guitar riff. It’s something that (and history has shown this) never has really appealed to me. It’s fair enough and likable, but both that drawl nor the summery acoustic guitar really hook me into repeated listens. 5/10
