"A few months back, I wrote about Fiction, a local group who falls somewhere between late-period Radiohead, TV on the Radio, and Broken Social Scene. Yes, that was lazy journalism. But I wrote a whole article about them if you want the details.
In that article, they were going on a months-long hiatus. Well, they recently broke that with four performances during Austin’s “Hello, Entire Population of L.A.” week and another at OxJam 2008, a yearly benefit/awareness event co-sponsored by Oxfam-UT and Oxfam-SEU, student groups that fight global poverty and hunger. This year, it was held at Ruta Maya.
I caught them at OxJam and boy, were they on their game. Lead singer Jeremy Roye was Thom Yorking all over the stage (in a very good way) and the rest of the band emitted energy, too, that the audience responded to. I think I saw Jason Reece (...Trail of Dead) sitting at the bar mouthing along to one of the songs.
Here’s hoping that we can see more of this energized Fiction."
Adam Avramescu, That Other Paper
http://thatotherpaper.com/austin/fiction_2nd_ed
"Their sound is experimental, with an evident influence of the Radiohead style of pushing the boundaries ethos, particularly in the vocal styles and wobbly head technique of the lead singer. Thrown into the plot are an assortment of strings, synthesizers, multi-part harmonies, electronic beats, live looping/sampling, and flute, all culminating in a satisfying musical page turner. The tempo of the melodies has a slightly twitchy, claustrophobic feel with repeated listens revealing extra layers of sounds, hidden under the nervy, chanty vocals.
The 'You Will Never' E.P was released October 2007. A debut full length album pencilled in for release late 2009.
"The band members look tired, with the exception of Jeremy Roye, the lead singer (It’s his 27th birthday). This is their second show of the week – the third, if you count that four days ago they appeared on KVRX Local Live for a live performance and interview. Once Jeremy hops on stage, he explains that it’s the band’s last show until February and invites the audience to the house party he’s throwing the next day.
The EP provides a look into the many sounds of a band finding its footing. There’s the chilled-out, rolling groove of “Chew Our Tongues”; the jazzy, lurching “Tiger! Tiger!” (more leaning than its demo version, which sounded like a dark Squirrel Nut Zippers); the slow rise of “Lights, Alarms”; the crouched and menacing “Bellydown”; and the soulful, plodding “Salty.”
For some bands this path leads to the wolves’ den. I’ve seen too many artists try to sell their first outings as cross-genre experiments, when really all that’s happened is that they’ve failed to write with consistency or coherence. The resulting album usually sounds like an unflattering mixtape that just happens to have the same person doing vocals over every track. Not here, though. The band has wisely set some rules for themselves: Strong, slow builds. Quick drops. Layers buried so deep in the mix that you’re forced to give each song 20 listens. Chanted vocals. No resolutions. Multitracking to high hell, then raw, exposed instrumentation. Lots and lots of Rhodes."
Adam Avramescu, That Other Paper.
http://thatotherpaper.com/austin/a_fiction_in_the_writing
"At this late point in the evolution of aesthetic development, it really takes effort to produce a fresh
take on rock-oriented music-just listen to what most bands are up to these days. But local five-piece
Fiction refuse to offer a dude-ly homage to the Emperor of the Past, instead swimming out towards a
world of inspired, unhurried, unabashed creativity. This brand-new yellow fledgling already has an
original project in motion, augmenting standard instrumentation with un-common-time rhythms, cello,
wood-flute, and digital beats and blurbisms fitted into a dynamic approach that could go in innumerable
directions. Some moments are more-or-less modified pop confections, albeit with a just-under-the-surface
tension of players preparing to cult loose, and to spread out into multiple sonic dimensions. Over and
over this urge to explore emerges out of the vaguely rock-standard platform of each song, opening up
intricate passages suggesting narrative and emotional depth. In a loose sense this is "rock", but the
container does not define the contents, in this instance. Most infant bands do their best to
keep-it-together, but Fiction is already crawling toward Art. Listen."
FICTION @ Flamingo Cantina
Deejay O, KVRX Austin 91.7 FM
http://www.kvrx.org/locallive/
No! Thanks to you guys for all the great memories and awesome music... And thanks too for being my first friends in Austin and the coolest cats on the planet... You just can't break up, guys!!!
What's up yall?! Long time no see, no nothin! How are things goin? Just passin' through leavin' comments and thought I'd say hi. Check out the new tunes!
Hey guys, Daniel Z here, I just wanted to point out something interesting. I watched "softie" on youtube and looked at the "related videos" section to see what it would show. One time it showed artists like Qtip and REM. I watched it just now, and tese are some of the bands that it showed:
1. Radiohead cover New Order 2. Bob Dylan - Don't Think Twice, It's All Right 3. Queen - Under Pressure 4. An Interview with Yo-Yo Ma 5. Steve Reich - It's Gonna Rain 6. A segment of Jim and Pam from The Office
i just paused Prince to listen to bellydown, which is risky in general due to most things having a difficult time standing next to prince and sounding well done, and anyways, i loved it. its awesome
