Imagine you’re at a cool party with some cool, arty people. The friend you came in with has gone to the toilet, and on the way back they’ve got talking to someone. Some guy walks up to you, introduces himself and, without asking your name, starts to tell you about his band that’s like a fusion of jazz and like electro-synth improv with hints of like black metal in it and how they’ve not got any gigs booked but like they’ll be sick and he’ll get you in.
That guy is the first two tracks of Fox Millions‘ Biting Through, a record born when extremely capable live drummers and their mate who likes The Orb decide they’ll make an album. During ‘Nine Years Of Facing A Wall’ that guy leaves, and from ‘The Gulf’ onwards, Biting Through becomes what it should be the whole way through, a genuinely off-centre, engagingly indulgent experience anchored by super-tight, utterly confident drumming. ‘Wealth’ and ‘Be’ are properly good, and if you can ignore the preset-cycling fumble of the first two pieces, this is a truly interesting listen.
If the next record picks up where this one left off, it’ll be something else.
Biting Through is out now on Thrill Jockey. Purchase here.
Words: John Tron Davidson
