You might be forgiven for not having heard of London based Quartet ‘Folly Group’ before now. With ‘Butt No Rifle‘, this enigmatic and self-described ‘brain trust’ of a band are looking to change that.
As a song, it’s quite difficult to define. The best way I can think to describe it at present, is that it is a bit like losing the TV remote down the side of the settee, while your Dad shouts over the melee of rapidly changing channels in a blind, exacerbated panic.
The riffs and rhythms you’re hearing aren’t exactly new but when played by this band, they sound fresh and unique. Just when you think you’ve settled into the track and heard it all before, it skips over into something completely different and unlike anything else.
Drummer and vocalist Sean Harper holds all these abstract pieces together with a commanding vocal performance, sewing each section into one uniform patchwork of ideas and inspiration.
Of the lyrics, he writes; “Me and my twin were born in London, we left, then I came back. The lyrics are a surreal depiction of me struggling to reconcile fond memories with the far starker reality young adults here are presented with”.
Although the band consider ‘Butt No Rifle’ to be an introduction of sorts, the confidence and genre-defying ability the band show at this stage is beyond admirable. For all we know, their next release could well sound like a cross between the Spice Girls and Black Sabbath, but one thing is for sure, I can’t wait to bloody well hear it.
Words: David Sturgess Photography: Holly Whitaker