Anyone who’s been to any number of shows in Allston in past 3 years already knows all about this band; I myself look for every opportunity I can to state “Fat History Month is my favorite fucking band”. After 2011’s Fucking Despair, FHM released a demo of songs last summer to raise money for their new record, Bad History Month. Released by Sophomore Lounge (who put out Fucking Despair) and Exploding in Sound, they put it up on Bandcamp for streaming on April Fool’s Day, and the results are beautiful enough to soften the hardest dickheads.
The Bandcamp page says Fucking Despair was their comedy album, this is their tragedy, and that seems pretty apparent. No other band seems to do the simultaneously funny and sad dynamic like FHM, this has always been the case, but this album is indeed heavy on the sad. The line “I can’t help but feelin’ like the first human to hate a neanderthal” from the title track leaves you a little less proud to be a human, if you chew on it a bit. The Future ends on a huge bummer about cancer despite the songs vaguely upbeat feel. There Goes the Sun has this beautiful shimmering change up as Sean sings “Love is blind and so is rage”. Cat in a Box should get an award for being the saddest song ever written to clock in under three minutes (and that blood in my chest/is suddenly worth/more than sex and love and gold). All this melancholy remains grounded by Mark’s drumming, supplying the grooves necessary so that this album doesn’t end up being the kind of record you only throw on when you’ve had a shitty day. But you WILL be throwing it on every time you have a shitty day.
Absent from this album are the kind of epic jams that were on Fucking Despair; no track seems to bust the five minute mark. Given the theme of this album, this is probably for the best, else they’d have to standby to give everyone who bought the LP a hug. Also included is a 30 page comic and 11×17 poster by Adric Giles, who some may or may not know better as the drummer boy in CGS Power Trio, Allston’s favorite prog band, a good reason to buy two copies. They’re touring relentlessly right now; slated to be on the west coast this month and should be back home on 4/29 for a show at Great Scott with CT buddies and badasses Florida=Death. We should all go and have a good cry together.
– David Allen
