Review: Found – Factorycraft

Opening their first record on Chemikal Underground with a sweet sense of brooding, building guitar scratches and alluringly harmonious vocals, Found’s take on punk and pop influence appear to be heading towards something quite unique and stand-alone in terms of presenting a distinct sound.

This ‘new garage’ sound flows through the rest of the record, providing listeners with strong notes that manage to cause more of a static emphasis as opposed to a depth or frequency to the songs. Simple, tactile beats from the drums and this almost delicate guitar placement (despite the edgy influence) combine to create these constructed and often minimal-sounding tracks.

I can’t help but feel this is more of a record for personal and intimate listening due to the heavy lyrical nature, however the raw production and recording value manage to reflect on and re-create a live sound that from a distance could be heard by somebody around the corner as being an actual performance. This rare and quirky trait and achievement reassures me of Found’s authenticity and dedication to their less-than-conformist and ordinary influences.

As the album streams in and out of the punk stabbing and the synth-pop questioning of time and space, a more conventional and upbeat number comes in the form of Blackette. This song essentially comes across as a vocal explosion of drunken harmonious lines overpowering the instruments trying their best to keep in time and provide credibility. Ultimately each brilliantly plays a part in forming one of the more contemporary examples of how a song should sound from the record i.e. it’s a crowd pleaser.

The droney weirdness, repetitiveness and heavy Scottish vocal emphasis may certainly not appeal to everybody’s taste, the overpowering conclusion to Every Hour That Passes certainly comes to mind here. Crucially though, Factorycraft easily sticks in my mind as being one of the most interesting and unique-sounding albums of the year so far.

At times I found myself becoming detached from the tracks, wishing and hoping for more impactful diversity and certainly heavier-hitting drums and breaks which notably come into place during the record’s concluding number to fully dramatic effect and relief.  It’s a shame that such a powerful emphasis comes at the very end but in terms of a formula, it’s understandable for total-album purposes as to why the band would savour the moment for the dramatic and visually encompassing finale.

- James Uden