"The Fear" by Trust Club
Review
As promised, here is notification of "The Fear", the third single in remarkably short succession by Trust Club and like the previous two ("All I Can Do" and "Not Quite"), destined (in three days' time) for inclusion on their ‘Slump' EP.
While predecessor "Not Quite" dated from their genesis as a band, "The Fear" is one of their most recent compositions and as such earned its EP slot at pretty much the last minute. It does have a Genesis connection though as the band of that name helped inspire the song: Supermilk also providing some of the same. That might account for the peculiar riff which works in measures of seven.
So this one tends more towards prog rock than power pop: though any excessive over-intellectualisation associated with the former is perhaps tempered by their admission that Matt's fiancée, Carly, helped refine the lyrics which originally "didn't use proper sentences".
My theory that the singles would get progressively darker doesn't really hold up: though they may be getting heavier instead: well this one certainly has more of that aspect than the first two & is much louder too.
Whatever the technical aspects may owe to Genesis, that band never thrashed out with this sort of venom nor attitude: there is a grunge stylistic debt which is far easier to spot. Multiple sources of inspiration naturally make for the most interesting music.
To be honest it gave me quite a start after its predecessors (which is not a bad thing: surprise stimulates the senses) and I wonder what effect it'll have in relation to the final EP: it sits right in the middle of the sequence.
It also, to my ears, harked back to the abrasive edges of their 2021 single "Untelligent Behaviour" (it also crops up on ‘Hot Music Live Presents Volume Seven'): that they've explored many other aspects of their sounds in the intervening years is to their credit & I'm not sure they possess (nor require) a signature sound, but it's good to be reminded what happens when they press the pedal to the floor.
Don't forget that you can catch Trust Club launching their EP at the Firebug in Leicester on Thursday evening: and it's free entry.
