Gonna keep this post brief, since I’ve got to catch the big Winterfell battle with the dead tonight on “Game of Thrones,” then head off to catch “Avengers: Endgame” for another finale, of sorts. Lots of characters are gonna die all around. And probably, some will live.
On that note, which is completely unrelated, I’m going to focus on another opening band I caught at the Tamaryn show at the Echoplex on Friday. It’s a coldwave duo from Salt Lake City called Fossil Arms. Guessing there’s a dinosaur connection to the name, being from Utah and all. Anyway, this pair’s got a gothic sensibility mixed with a bouncey synth-pop mentality, which makes for a curious blend of melancholic melody. They remind me a lot of early New Order mixed with some of the deep echo gloom of vintage Clan of Xymox.
Like last night’s post of Jorge Elbrecht, Friday’s show was my introduction to Fossil Arms. One track in particular stood out, titled “Balance.” For me, that makes a lot of sense, because I’ve constantly been feeling like I’ve been striving to set an equilibrium with all aspects of life … work, play, art, rest, mediation, money, etc. Of course, at the time, I didn’t know the track’s title. But sometimes, these things make sense after the fact.
“Balance” stood out because it was the last one of their set, which, of course, is a bit obvious, and it was also their most uplifting, which tends to end well. A majority of their material skewed moody and broody, with basslines somewhere between The Cure and Peter Hook, and snappy sequenced rhythms that echo the most alternative sides of the shady ’80s. “Balance” takes all that, and puts an overtly positive spin all over it.
The studio recording isn’t quite as punchy as their live performance, which I unfortunately didn’t record. I didn’t know who they were, so I decided to save myself the trouble. Every so often I miss out on something I actually like, which is what happened here. But at the very least I was able to track it down on Spotify, and offer an embed here.
Here’s Fossil Arm’s gothic popped “Balance” to level your listening experience. Enjoy it as best you can!
“Balance” from the 2018 EP “Balance.”
