Polly and the Billets Doux – Fiction, Half-Truths and Downright Lies

Polly and the Billets Doux

Polly and the Billets Doux hardly make the sort of music that you’d expect from a Bristol-based four piece. You couldn’t really imagine most of Fiction, Half-Truths and Downright Lies sounding out of place in a blue-collar bar somewhere in the heart of the American Midwest.

The album starts out with the spirit, life and energy that you’d expect from a good barroom stomp. ‘Follow My Feet’ offers the sort of gravel-y vocals, the scrappy country guitar, and the erratic time changes that would draw a grin from even the coldest of hearts. Though admittedly tamer than the previous track, ‘To Be A Fighter’ follows, much in the same vein.

But then comes an unexpected turn in ‘Charmed’. There’s a sudden regime change, and a totally unprecedented attempt to tackle jazz. They unquestionably shine more as a country-rock collective than as a lounge jazz band, with the track coming off simply as a short-lived foray outside their true comfort zone.

‘The Cup And The Lip’ sees a definite about-turn back towards the world of rock, but here there’s an inclination towards classic rock as opposed to the country-influenced version that Fiction… so prominently began with.

It’s only at the point that ‘I Would Ask’ saunters in that attentions seem to wander elsewhere. Despite an interesting trading-off of vocal duties within the group, by this point it’s almost as Fiction… would work better an advertisement for their skills as some sort of session band. While each member is undoubtedly versatile in his or her role, and the band clearly has the ability to cover a plethora of genres, there is soon a feeling of this card becoming overplayed. Fiction… quickly becomes an exercise in applying the same tired formula to each genre, which unfortunately rarely results in anything more than a bland imitation of their influences.

It’s really more of the same from here on out, with the closing five tracks bouncing between country, blues, and rock, and while none of these tracks are as obtrusive as the jazz-y numbers that occupy the middle of the record (in fact, ‘Don’t Trouble Trouble’ almost equals the frenzied promises of the opening track), there is nothing here to inject Fiction with the interest and originality that it so desperately needs.

Although Fiction… clearly demonstrates Polly and the Billets Doux’s breadth and versatility as a band, it is this same scope that leads to the album’s overall lack of focus. While they do on occasion manage to capture frantic enjoyment that their music can offer (most notably within their county-rock guise), at the end of it all they come off less as multifaceted, and more as a band suffering from a serious identity crisis.

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