How many words could be employed to review an EP whose length spans 9:05? To cut to the chase--- with Everybody Out… Shark in the Water, FM Bats land squarely within the whirlpool of fanfare that has recently come to surround the new wave and garage revivals, respectively.The approach is minimalist; with rhythms harkening back to the hard, R&B back beats of 60's Brit rock (so popular these days). Songs like "18 is Dying", "All You Do is Jerk", and "Sinking Ships of the Adult Lips" abound with such romps, set against slurred and lurid rants of the wasted youth culture--- talking trash, and getting trashed.
The delivery edgy, loose to point of sloppiness, and is coated with a veneer of juvenile wantonness that clearly marks out its intended audience. There, across their core of garage and new wave, though, lies a deliberate feel of surf ethos. One might imagine the sound to come off as the by-product of Adam Ant and Wall of Voodoo forming an upbeat but grainy-tuned agro surfer rock project.
Upside: It's light on the pomp and pageantry, and goes long on fun, rowdy intoxication.
Downside: The intentional vocal effect employed, which causes the vocalist to sound as if he were singing to the listener through a drive-through window speaker. Tinny drone is hardly the best match up for such tousled, choppy riffing--- perhaps for one or two songs, but not for the EP's entire span, quick as it may be.
DS' Rating: 78 points.
