The bad boys of British underground are back with their third album in six years. Formed in 2011 in a South London squat Fat White Family have brazenly brandished the banner passed down in a tradition traced back through early Stones, Syd Barrett, Sex Pistols, The Pogues, Libertines and beyond. And while all these aforementioned acts have left something of a mark on space and time there is very little from Fat White Family’s Serf’s Up! (short of the Beach Boys album pun) that is particularly memorable at all.
Employing cheesy light weight 80’s beats and synth throughout Serf’s Up! ultimately comes off sounding like bad industrial British techno pop Goth paying tenuous tribute to Tones On Tail channelling Sisters Of Mercy. There’s retro homage and then there’s just plain lazy and tired, dated and uninspired. Serf’s Up! is all of these things.
Disjointed, lacklustre, uneven and poorly paced Serf’s Up! is particularly disappointing when compared to Fats guitarist Saul Adamczewski’s charming 2018 self titled Insecure Men side project produced and recorded by Sean Lennon at his remote upstate New York recording studio in a mansion owned by mom Yoko Ono tantalisingly equipped with his late father’s Beatles gear.
The final five tracks of this ten track 43 minute LP fare only slightly better than the first five. After a patchy start Side Two takes off promisingly enough with a delightfully unexpected pizzicato string arrangement on Oh Sebastian but falters thereafter with the listless Gary Glitter glam sounding Tastes Good With The Money. Surprisingly The Fats leave the best for last as Serf’s Up! winds down with the textured and nuanced final two tracks When I Leave and Bobby’s Boyfriend. Like a chance meeting with a cold and distant acquaintance Serf’s Up! never manages to fully engage in any sort of meaningful way. A poorly styled affair with very little substance to speak of.
Rating 5/10
Star Rating 2.5/5
2019 Song Of The Day Club 12/52