Times are troubling in the world of politics. From Brexit and Theresa May in the UK, to Donald Trump in the US, Erdogan in Turkey, Putin in Russia, and a wave of far-right populism sweeping Europe, the media are under constant scrutiny for bias and the new idea of “fake news” while politicians present “alternative facts”. This chaos has become the perfect fuel for a wave of socially conscious, angry music for those who are fed up with apathy permitting atrocity. Lee Christian is one of the musicians riding on this wave with his new album, Fake News.
Despite the socially aware nature of his lyrics, it’s clear from the garish artwork and equally challenging compositions that Lee Christian has a fairly acerbic and abrasive approach to delivering his music. Intro “Blame” throws a heap of noise in your face before “The Truly Sad But Sadly True Story Of Vietnam Bob” delivers an avant-garde yet punk-fuelled rocker. The punk influences are more apparent in the 83 second “Price to Pay” as Christian’s voice darts from shouting and yelping to croons and yarls and everything in between.
The whole album seems to have the same in-your-face energy about it, with heavily distorted guitars remaining the constant. However, it’s hard to say that any two tracks sound truly the same as Christian dances around from hard rock to punk (and even a bit of heavy metal), adding elements of experimental wankery (“Slick” has some very mid-90s Faith No More vibes to it) and sheer noise. In some ways, this chaotic and uncertain album is very much the product of the chaotic and uncertain times that it came from. By the time we reach the second half of Fake News and “I See Red”, Lee Christian is slowing things down considerably and putting some melody within the fuzz.
However, the production is very messy and inconsistent. While some tracks are loud and aggressive, everything on “Stand Up” feels muddy and like you’re hearing it in another room, as if the volume has suddenly dipped from the previous track. While it’s clearly in a different style to the preceding tracks – instead taking a more mid-paced and serious tone and acting a call to arms rather than a reflection of total chaos – there’s no real reason for the production to be as messy as it is. Although it gives things a very DIY feel which will appeal to many quarters of the music scene that would appreciate the lyrical themes of Fake News, the inconsistency of it still makes it a challenging listen in ways that weren’t necessarily intended by Lee Christian when he wrote and recorded this effort. There is an overarching hard rock tone to the album, but most semblances of any concrete genre classification is drowned out by the sheer noise and casual listeners will find this very difficult to listen to all the way through, as it seems almost directionless some of the time, meandering in the final two tracks to a fairly disappointing conclusion after the promising first half.
Overall, however, we have a decent effort in Fake News. It’s very, very, very rough and requires some considerable work to reach the sort of standard where bigger names will start paying attention, but there are some good ideas in there. You just have to dig through a lot of mud to get to it. Listen to it below and download it for free.
Despite the socially aware nature of his lyrics, it’s clear from the garish artwork and equally challenging compositions that Lee Christian has a fairly acerbic and abrasive approach to delivering his music. Intro “Blame” throws a heap of noise in your face before “The Truly Sad But Sadly True Story Of Vietnam Bob” delivers an avant-garde yet punk-fuelled rocker. The punk influences are more apparent in the 83 second “Price to Pay” as Christian’s voice darts from shouting and yelping to croons and yarls and everything in between.
The whole album seems to have the same in-your-face energy about it, with heavily distorted guitars remaining the constant. However, it’s hard to say that any two tracks sound truly the same as Christian dances around from hard rock to punk (and even a bit of heavy metal), adding elements of experimental wankery (“Slick” has some very mid-90s Faith No More vibes to it) and sheer noise. In some ways, this chaotic and uncertain album is very much the product of the chaotic and uncertain times that it came from. By the time we reach the second half of Fake News and “I See Red”, Lee Christian is slowing things down considerably and putting some melody within the fuzz.
However, the production is very messy and inconsistent. While some tracks are loud and aggressive, everything on “Stand Up” feels muddy and like you’re hearing it in another room, as if the volume has suddenly dipped from the previous track. While it’s clearly in a different style to the preceding tracks – instead taking a more mid-paced and serious tone and acting a call to arms rather than a reflection of total chaos – there’s no real reason for the production to be as messy as it is. Although it gives things a very DIY feel which will appeal to many quarters of the music scene that would appreciate the lyrical themes of Fake News, the inconsistency of it still makes it a challenging listen in ways that weren’t necessarily intended by Lee Christian when he wrote and recorded this effort. There is an overarching hard rock tone to the album, but most semblances of any concrete genre classification is drowned out by the sheer noise and casual listeners will find this very difficult to listen to all the way through, as it seems almost directionless some of the time, meandering in the final two tracks to a fairly disappointing conclusion after the promising first half.
Overall, however, we have a decent effort in Fake News. It’s very, very, very rough and requires some considerable work to reach the sort of standard where bigger names will start paying attention, but there are some good ideas in there. You just have to dig through a lot of mud to get to it. Listen to it below and download it for free.