“A psychedelic eruption in the factory.” That’s how Edinburgh’s new garage band on the block, FOUND describe their sound, which ranges from urgent, Wire-influenced punk to Joe Meek sci-fi pop, cheapo bossa nova and near acid house grooviness within the space of a few tracks.
factorycraft, their first album for Chemikal Underground, introduces us to the trio’s grubby world: rarely does a debut album have an opening statement as striking as urban love story Anti-Climb Paint. And throughout the album, the title is reflected in mechanically ticking beats, references to assembly lines and precise, brutal guitar stabs.
Appropriately enough, the album was recorded in one productive week on an industrial estate in Glasgow, at Chemikal Underground’s own Chem 19 studio. While they were working on it, they were also busily building a sound installation called Cybraphon based on a 19th century orchestrion – a project that later won them a BAFTA. Because aside from being a band, FOUND are also hugely creative art collective.
That experimental, multimedia spirit is carried through to their performances. One show saw them inviting the audience to participate by throwing paper planes through laser beams that triggered sounds. “It seemed like a good idea until we were facing a crowd of 100+ people all flinging planes at us,” they say.
As you might expect, the band’s lyrics – largely written by Ziggy (singer), who renders them in his languid lowland brogue – are anything but throwaway. “Typically he’ll write about his provincial, low-life up bringing in the Scottish Borders or the extremes of relationships,” say his bandmates. “Sometimes he’ll write about gangs of giant seagull queens or wrestling granite saints in order to gain access to heaven.”
The Album is released on 14th March 2011.