Debut album from Fantasy Rainbow, Bos Taurus, is slacker indie pop to the core with shades of Stephen Malkmus. It’s got notes of edge giving tracks a blur between pop and rock, all packaged up with the youthful vocals of 19 year front-man, Oliver Catt.
Opening track, Soda Stream, starts off with a long intro filled with light guitar riffs interchanges that set the album up well, before kicking in with a lively indie feel. However, it doesn’t necessarily set the world on fire, but things step a notch massively on Condominium with vocals that sound like a young combination of Paul Simon and Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend. The freakout mid section is class.
Nothing But starts out with a Caribbean feel that continues the Vampire Weekend comparisons but changes up after two minutes to become gruff, fuzzy indie rock that ends perfectly on stern guitar notes. The lyrics are intricate and talk of damaged girls in discos, before the heavy guitar strikes finish it.
There’s more fuzzy rock on Earwax, with a slacker feel. It’s mellow, stripped back and slightly hypnotic. While Portra has a Beach Boys and Vampire Weekend blended sound, with a crisped edge and asymmetrical undercurrents. The downcast upbeat lyrics are pretty cool, with a call of “maybe there’s more to this dismal existence”.
Bread Biscuit has a surreal intro that becomes the bedrock of the song, with slow blues folk that sounds vaguely like it could have been written by Willy Mason. The shouted vocals give a new element to Bos Taurus bellying Catt’s age with a great understanding of how to bring variation to an album.
There’s a slow, stretched blues start to E Z Coast with distinct vocals and a simple electric rhythm background. The wilding riffs in the second half give the song a lot of heart, making it an unexpected stand out track.
Fantasy Rainbow’s Bos Taurus returns to slacker indie pop on O, Weirdo, broken down into little sections of catchy summer sunshine that builds to a fuzzier close. Or; Comfort is a bit more fractured with roving lyrics of reality built around a whirling guitar strain that sounds mental. It’s genuinely brilliant, taking the album into noise rock territory and making it stick.
Golf World drones vocally, bringing something different to the LP before Tooth Ache takes it down with a simple indie rock feel and well pitched vocals.
There’s a lot packed into Fantasy Rainbow’s Bos Taurus, so there’s a real mix of songs that results in an album that never gets dull even on the grayer tracks. As a whole it’s a cool album with a lot to keep you coming back to listen again.
Fantasy Rainbow, Bos Taurus review: 4.5/5
