Fridge "The Sun" (Temporary Residence)
By Lucas Salg
Monday. Jun 18, 9:31 PM
Either write some real songs or stick with your day jobs.

Fridge are perhaps more famous for the successful projects they have spawned in the long period since their last album came out in 2001: guitarist Kieran Hebden has achieved quite a bit of success with his little-bit-of-everything-tronica Four Tet, as have bassist Adem Ilhan’s space-folk solo records. It’s easy to forget at this point that Fridge even existed, particularly since their newer projects are so interesting, and since Fridge’s brand of wandering, heavily experimental “post-rock” was never particularly mind-blowing to begin with. Unfortunately, their new album proves the band probably should have stayed on hiatus.

Fridge are packed with lots of tasty ideas, but they don’t actually use them in a way that is satisfying. The Sun most strongly resembles a hastily-recorded collection of ideas that might be stored away for future use in actual songs. It’s improvisational to a fault, full of missed opportunities and dead ends, bits of brilliance that slip away all too soon, and thuddingly dull passages that are misinterpreted as interesting by the band and thus given up to six minutes a pop to stumble around. Fridge seem to operate on two levels here: drum-heavy workouts with limited or no melodic input, and pretty melodies that float around aimlessly with nothing to tether them.

“Lost Time” starts out fumbling, then finds its way at the end, building to a surprisingly effective and melodic climax; “Our Place in This” has some beautiful, spare melodies, but the song feels pretty thin overall. Then there are tracks like the closing “Years and Years and Years and Years,” which drones on almost as long as its title would suggest, taking its plodding acoustic strum and doing absolutely nothing with it, slowly. Most of the album falls into that category. Then there are a handful of tracks like the opening title track that seem to have been accidentally recorded, just a mishmash of beats and sound effects that really isn’t engaging on any level.

Considering the many cool things its members have been up to in the years since Fridge’s last LP, it’s a real surprise and a disappointment to hear an album this unfocused and shambling. I’m all for experimental music, but this seems like less of an experiment than an accident. The press release claims The Sun is rooted in “the pure and simple fun of playing music with friends in a garage,” but while it may have been fun to make, it’s not a lot of fun to listen to. Either they need to write some real songs next time out, or stick with their day jobs.
www.brainwashed.com/fridge
www.temporaryresidence.com

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Lucas Salg

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