Brood Faye – The Tank

It’s hard to draw a bead on California’s Brood Faye; the music on debut LP The Tank fits broadly into the current wave of electronics that draws from both darkwave and EBM, but with an alternately sardonic and riled-up attitude that feels pretty singular. It’s not hard to imagine hearing a cut like “Pinyon Prick” with its whispered vocals and speedy rhythm programming in a club setting, but its not a mode that the project sticks to for long, with follow-up “Me and Larry” transitioning into a punky bit of funky electro with yelled vocals that fill out the mix. That departure is nothing next to a full-on squelchy electro country and western number of “Farrah Fawcett”, which itself comes after the chillingly matter-of-fact monologue of ambient interstititial track “Muhannad Posts and Troy Voicemail”. Whether on the manic, spitfire rhymed vocals of “Gov Psy Op” or the comparatively straight mid-tempo swing of “Sweet Assassin”, Brood Faye keeps things lean, DIY and unpredictable, all qualities we could use more from the dark alt scene at large.