Written by: Dave Cantrell
As anyone even passingly familiar with my work knows from the many – some might say ‘countless’ and not be entirely wrong – mentions of how I was insanely fortunate to be 23 years old in 1979 with just enough spare change to my name to fly to London for reasons obvious to anyone even passingly familiar with the stunning reality of the music scene there (and elsewhere of course but especially there) at the time. That era entire – regardless if I’d hied to the Big Smoke or not – has as its only true parallel the unmatched – and indeed unmatchable – explosion of the mid-60s (to which it, to be honest, pretty much pales in comparison because how could it not) and, while no ‘movement’ or ‘era’ has since come within an abundance of nautical miles to that heralded Peel-compelled moment, the so-called ‘grunge’ years of the late 80s/early 90s at least made a run for those beginning-to-wilt roses and while this punter wasn’t so much taken with those tagged by that particular G-word – its primary driver Nirvana notwithstanding – it has to be recognized that said ‘scene’ was responsible for unleashing a whole fresh wave of energy on both sides of the pond the likes of which – quite sadly we must add – hasn’t, in the rock world anyway, rematerialized since. Hence, when one of that moment’s keenest practitioners arrives here some thirty (!) plus years later with a full-length that, beyond the sheer unexpectedness of it ‘arriving’ at all, almost single-handedly reinvigorates the legacy of that by-now long ago heyday, well, that’s a helluva hallelujah day indeed. So, reader friends, meet…
…Pete Fij, formally and legally named Piotr Fijalkowski, best known by those in the know as the central driving force of one of that era’s most astonishing projects, Adorable, and whose CV since, while not quite so seam-busting, nonetheless reflects an artist doing what an artist does despite whatever obstacles be they personal or professional and that’s bringing the best effort possible, AKA ‘doing the work’ which, we gotta say, we’re deeply grateful for in this instance as it’s brought us to his latest called Up’s The New Down which, for this fan anyway, as reflected in its title, is a welcome and much-needed arrival amidst the dismal realities for which, for those of us on this side of said pond anyway, this current stretch of years will be remembered.
Rather literally bursting out of the gates, the insta-classic “Love’s Coming Back” is arguably the most compelling and, more pointedly, most declarative opener we’ve heard in yonks, to the degree that one could sub out ‘Love’s’ with ‘Pete’s’ and be as spot on the mark as one could ever be, especially when considering all that follows. There’s the next-up “Hey Sunshine,” a subtly throbbing piece of song-based addiction that, for a track that’s literally a plea to that big blinding orb in the sky to come back and do its job (hey sunshine, won’t you send me some rays because the mojo isn’t working) , is, as it happens, remarkably groove-tastic as is, well, pretty much everything on offer here.
Be it “Complicated,” a piece of modern romantic pop that’s suitably bass-based seeing as its gist addresses that most basic of human drives wherein love and lust dance and dally and parry around that simplest of desires yet is nonetheless, somehow, exactly as its title says and yet in any case, as a head-nodder, it can’t be beat and on and on this gem of a record goes.
Take “Cuckoo” or, rather, let it take you as we can assure you it’ll have your heart and your head up on that internal dance floor we’ve all got built deep inside us gettin’ all down and sultry with it; “Actor”‘s funk and drive that manages to merge the sprightly with the driving with the hook-laced powerful as the singer pleads his case to be, shall we say, the leading man; the almost punky pulse of “Wake Up Honey” with the rather killer (opening) stanza “she said ‘I’m going / for some fresh air / get some cigarettes // three weeks later / I’m still on the sofa / and she ain’t come back yet and, OK, sure, try to beat that, won’t be easy; down to arguably save-best-for-last “Fragments,” at its near six-minute length single-handedly putting paid to the notion that the perfect ‘pop’ song should be half as long by being nothing less than consistently, addictively compelling start to finish that also, as it happens and rather tidily, is a descriptor applicable to the album entire and, as the more astute among you might well guess, there could simply not be a more potentially copy-ready last line to an album review which in most cases would lead to a simple two-word imperative: ‘Get it,’ and while effectively succinct and all that, this is one of those instances where a more compelling coda is called for:
There are those records that so register with the porous yearnings of our rocknroll hearts that they become more or less entangled in amidst that mass of tendrils and electricity to a point that we’re destined to carry it with us for the remainder of our years no matter our age. Up’s The New Down, joyously and, I can’t help but say, inevitably, is one of those.
[Up’s The New Down released September 25th and is available from Tip Top Records here]
