The Fizz Fuzz is a great blues rock band from Santa Rosa, CA, which consist of husband and wife duo, Dandy and Dawn Brown. They are the main core of the band but has always been assisted by Steve Earle on drums. Multi-instrumentalist Dandy Brown is of course known from bands such as Hermano, Orquesta Del Desertio, John Garcia and Yawning Man to name but a few and he's also a renowned producer and author. Together with Dawn, vocals and guitar, who is a great artist, The Fizz Fuzz saw the light of day a few years ago and so far two brilliant albums have been released, 'Palmyra' (2020) and 'Deserts, Mountains, Oceans' (2023) and both are covered in this review.
Palmyra
'Hereby' is full of great riffs as the band plays upbeat desert rock of the best kind. Dropping down in pace 'Collapse' is ominous and hypnotic with a sense of lurking impending doom moving in the fringes. 'Dark Horse III' retains the slower pace and is dark musically and goes heavy on the bass guitar. 'Shame' is slow blues in the shape of spacey desert rock which briefly turns into heavy blues.
Dawn handles the vocals on 'Conditional Love' and she reminds me of the brilliant Aimee Mann. This is a laidback song, stripped down and dreamy. 'Dear Old' is a strange yet very on point and trance-inducing desert rock with great undertones of pop. 'Loose Lips' somewhat follows along with its predecessor being spacey, dreamy and rocky. A wonderful blend, if I may say so. Palmyra ends with the largely acoustic 'Sunkissed' which is trippy and beautiful.
A great debut, indeed, where Dandy's past appears frequently. It would be strange, if not. But being this great the band moves down a path of its own creating a new identity. To these ears that is a sign of music brilliance, to take your past as well as old influences and walk down a new avenue. Excellent!
Deserts, Mountains, Oceans
'Statues' opens up the proceedings and brings full tilt desert rock with brilliant riffs setting an excellent feel immediately. 'Deaf & Dumb' is sultry and in your face with Dawn singing. The vocals are shared perfectly on 'Disbelief'. Its a minimalistic creation which builds up gradually somewhat. 'I Suppose' goes strong and very effectual on the vocal harmonies and is kind of rocky in the build up.
Dawn is back on the lead vocals on 'Free For Sorry' another wonderful composition showing bare bones. Next up is 'Craters' which represents the entire album basically. What I mean is this would be the song I introduce The Fizz Fuzz to people. It has all they are. 'Mad Jimmy' is musically light and soaring while the lyrics are pretty bleak and morose, contrasts that work fantastically well together. This approach follows on album closer 'Billion' although the song erupts eventually bringing it all to a perfect ending.
This album is overall more bare and stripped down than Palmyra. The music is more semi-acoustic in approach as well as emanating a less is more feel...all while retaining that special embrace of the desert the debut held. The Fizz Fuzz sidestepped the trappings of the sophomore release syndrome by creating this wonderful album.
If you've never heard of this great band before I urge you, dear wave rider, to do so because The Fizz Fuzz will expand your music sphere and make your life so much better. Don't miss out, you hear!
-Swedebeast
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