YOU WANT FOX entered our bloodstream back in January 2015. Now, after listening to their debut album ‘You Can’t Sit With Us’, I’m forever left with a glorious lipstick stain on my eardrums. This album is a middle finger up to the haterz and comes with all the punk attitude and sexyness of a fiersome, female duo.
Released to wide appraisal, ‘Bad Girls’ is the single off the album. It’s military-esque drum beat is a call to arms – empowering ladies and daring them to flirt with their naughty side. If Nottingham had a Grunge-Rock Beyonce equivalent – this would be it. It sets the tone for the next eight tracks and makes you want to trade in that hat for a pair of red horns. The momentum builds and finishes with a repeat of the chorus ‘bad girls do it better’ – you’ll be marching in tune by the end.
Next is the slightly more poppy ‘Queen Bee’. Think Mean Girls doing Punk-Pop. Again, super catchy chorus reaffirming that Natalie’s song writing ‘comes with more hooks than a pirate convention’. Self-assured, confident and with a dab of ego-rubbing – but hey we all do it! Colette’s drum beat provides the backbone showing she is queen of tempo.
Starting with punchy, distorted vocals, ‘Wingin it’ puts YWF right back in the bosom of Grunge-Rock. It’s also the first time we hear extended harmonies proving the girls don’t just shout, they sing. There’s plenty of cymbal bashing on this one but the soft vocal harmonies add great texture.
Listening to this album I already know that I want to see these guys live. In fact, I have, but listening to it makes me want to see them again. With the flick of Natalie’s voice on the chorus, ‘Shades of Grey’ is easy to sing along to, quirky and has a sprinkle of puckish flavour thrown in for good measure.
Half way through the album and if you were thinking of making a cup of tea – oh no!! ‘Take Me Home’ has one of the most powerful starts off the album with a down and dirty bass riff. Natalie’s sultry voice then acts as a siren enticing you in with lyrics like ‘I don’t bite’. Somehow by the end we don’t believe you.
With power to match that of Deap Vally, YWF’s ‘Venus Virus’ is a shouting anthem. The echoing start (after all YWF prove that two is better than one) leads to the repeating chorus ‘oh this song wasn’t meant for you’. I can already picture it sprawled in red lippy on the mirror.
Soooo imagine if Barbie and Ken broke up and Barbie sunk a bottle of Vodka and went on a rampage about Ken, that would be ‘Ex Boyfriend’. With these two songs next to each other you might think there’s a certain amount of men-bashing on the album. Well, I’m not sure about that but let’s just say we wouldn’t want to break up with YWF!
With a chorus that goes ‘NA na NA na NAA, NAna NAna NAA naa’ ‘Supernova Super Fake’ is reminiscent of chants from the schoolyard – fitting for the album title. It’s a return to a more poppy sound and we get to hear Colette’s vocals shine fully for the first time.
You might think ‘Throw Down Your Weapons’ is a sign of peace with whatever behemoth YWF has been fighting but that’s not the case. Impact Impact Impact – this song ends the album on an all time high – it certainly doesn’t want to make me throw down any of the weapons that I’ve been building up for the past eight tracks…
An album to mark their territory, YWF has come out with all guns blazing… then again, we kinda wouldn’t have expected anything less.|
You can buy the album HERE. We’ll let you know if we hear of any Notts record shops stocking it.
Yours in Love of New Music,
Anna Butler x
