Everything Everything - 'A Fever Dream' Album Review

Everything Everything – ‘A Fever Dream’

The strange nuance of the sublet that is nerd-rock is something of a modern phenomenon. Where it was once restricted to the falsetto vocals of Thom Yorke and co, this flavoursome sub-genre is now an integral part of the indie scene. Whether it’s Alt-j, Glass Animals, Django Django or Foals, nerd-rock has slowly weaved its way into our musical consciousness. The Manchester based four-piece Everything Everything have always ingeniously utilised the outlandish nature of this musical style to its full advantage since their 2010 debut album ‘Man Alive’. The high pitched vocals of frontman Jonathan Higgs, the cleverly layered melodies, the crazy rhythms and bizarre imagery conjured up by clever lyricism have become a staple of this band. Now, in August of 2017, ‘A Fever Dream’, the follow-up to the group’s critically acclaimed third album ‘Get to Heaven’, has been released, and I for one can’t wait to get stuck into it.

The exceedingly allusive lyrics of Higgins have always been an extremely difficult enigma to decode, and this is still the case on ‘A Fever Dream’, Higgins’ targets are often implied, not explicitly stated. Brexit and the xenophobia that surrounds it is tackled on ‘Put Me Together’, the harsh reality of our impending depressing future is divulged on ‘Desire’, whilst an omniscient narrator is created on ‘Big Game’.

There would’ve been a time close to the birth of this group and their initial musical phases that they would’ve gladly shied away from incorporating extensive guitar sounds into their tracks. One of the main successes of debut album ‘Man Alive’ was that it wasn’t afraid to sound different; the vocals were cleverly layered over fast paced, interesting beats. On ‘A Fever Dream’, the band’s sound has certainly shifted in a noticeable way. ‘Run The Numbers’ incorporates heavy based guitar chords at its core that creates a distinctly darker sound. Whilst the slow-burner ‘Put Me Together’ is deliciously beautiful in its simplicity. This record manages to find strength via its contrasts, forcing cathartic sounding melodies and rhythms with grim imagery.

To me, ‘A Fever Dream’ feels like a culmination of the band’s previous work. A dash of the electronic nature of ‘Man Alive’, a spoonful of the layered vocals of ‘Arc’ and a pinch of the dark, moulded, politically biased imagery of ‘Get to Heaven’ all mixed together. On this new record Everything Everything display that they can successfully integrate a vast variety of different themes into their music in order to ensure that it remains fresh, inviting and exciting. There’s piano based ballads (‘Put Me Together’), stern-face indie pop (‘Can’t Do’), intently instrumental-based music (‘New Deep’) and slow-burning epics (‘A Fever Dream’). The cyclical nature of this album helps to evoke a mass of emotions when the listener listens to it in its entirety. The group have certainly created a strong record with ‘A Fever Dream’.

Overall Rating – 8/10

Fave Tracks – ‘Desire’, ‘Run the Numbers’, ‘Ivory Tower’, ‘Can’t Do’, ‘A Fever Dream’

Least Fave Tracks – ‘Night of the Long Knives’, ‘Good Shot, Good Soldier’