Electronic garage Londoners Big & The Fat half swagger and half shuffle onto We Can Do It Records with the mesmerisingly tense new double A-side ‘Fruit’/’Crack Crack’.
There is something bizarre, even gratifyingly uncomfortable, about both tracks, which stomp ever onwards with the steady regularity of a pendulum while ramping up a certain sense of uneasiness which never really resolves itself. The tracks are the musical equivalent of eating four grapefruits in one sitting with no sugar, bitter as anything but also delicious, nourishing and distinctly moreish.
After the brooding ‘Fruit’ – aptly titled if you steer clear of the summer-sweet strawberry connotations – rumbles its way up towards a cacophonous and almost painfully angular conclusion, it would be nice to think that there would be some light to the shade on the other side of the (limited edition pink) record. But no, it’s all lo-fi minor key mutterings and an almost military march which from a lower starting point manages to rival ‘Fruit’ for a wonderfully raucous latter third.
‘Fruit’ and ‘Crack Crack’ are two tracks which on paper should probably not be that enjoyable to listen to – and yet they’ve been on repeat for me since I got them, and I can’t wait to hear more.
Words - Joe Ponting