Seattle, WA. (Top40 Charts/ Sarathan Records) - Feral Children's ferocious live performances have ravaged Seattle, and most recently, lucky throngs of SXSW-goers witnessed them wreak havoc at multiple showcases. They've received endorsements and major airplay from Seattle's influential KEXP and garnered enthusiastic praise from the local press. Their debut LP, SECOND TO THE LAST FRONTIER, will be released July 8 on Sarathan Records.
Described by Seattle's "The Stranger" as "convulsive, percussive, skuzzed-out rock, as primal as a caveman fertility ritual," Feral Children remain true to their moniker over the album's 12 tracks.
Self-released locally in 2007, the fivesome's full-length was produced by Scott Colburn (Animal Collective, Arcade Fire), who expertly captured the band's raw sonic outbursts.
Kicking off with the rollicking "Spy/Glass House," the album launches into a frenzy almost right off the bat as a spiky guitar riff collides with vocalist/percussionist Jeff Keenan's howling melodies. The song bursts at the seams with an eerie tension that pervades the entire record. "Jaundice Giraffe," a staple on KEXP, begins with a ghostly synth line before various falsetto "woos" take over, leading into guttural yelps and tribal chanting, coalescing with a barrage of squelchy electronics. "Me, Me Just Me" demonstrates the band's rhythm-heavy tendencies as Keenan pounds away in unison against heavy drum beats while alternating between a hurried delivery and cathartic bark.
The band's apparent weirdness and dark sense of humor shine through in the bouncy "Baby Joseph Stalin" while "Lost in the Woods," which clocks in at more than seven minutes, and album closer "Zyghost" muse about religion with a sarcastic tone: "He thought he heard the voice of God but he couldn't understand a goddamn word," Keenan spits in the latter.
Formed in 2004 in the backwoods of Maple Valley, a small rural community about 30 miles outside of Seattle, Feral Children's LP is unmistakably a product of the Northwest. It is gritty, spastic, inspired and gloriously unhinged or as "Seattle Weekly" exclaimed: "a fascinating, beautifully narrated work."
