FIZZ’s first album is a chaotic chorus of exceptional sounds.
The band, FIZZ, composed of four popular artists, just got their start-up this year by releasing their first album on Oct. 27 titled The Secret to Life. The band consists of popular indie artists Dodie, Greta Isaac, Orla Gartland, and Martin Luke Brown, who decided to make a band and their album with a cornerstone of fun and friendship.
Their album feels like a whirlwind of colors, escapism, and pure joy, which makes total sense considering the fact that they are considered by many to be a psychedelic indie pop group. The supergroup’s album covers mental health struggles, former lovers, and the angst of everyday life with choral singing mixed with the perfect amount of feel-good racket. The album is a great mix of all the artists’ talents but also gives the chance for each artist to individually showcase their typical style, which I really enjoyed. The album, in a sense, feels as if it is a bunch of teen-to-young-adult reverie, displayed by euphoric younger versions of themselves.
“A New Phase Awaits You and The Secret To Life”
Right off the bat, the first song in the album, “A New Phase Awaits You,” feels like I’m surrounded by rainbows while listening to a commercial. It’s a hard experience to explain, to say the least. After basically a minute, the song is already over, and the commercial theme of the song phases out as the song goes to the next in the album, “The Secret To Life.” The second song, while keeping the rainbow feel, also adds a sense of confident chaos that makes my brain feel like it’s on fire in a good way. The first two songs, while being short, definitely take you on a haywire trip of sounds and vocals.
“High In Brighton”
The third song on the track is definitely one of my favorites. The chorus of vocals and the background tumult make me feel as if someone injected me with dopamine and pushed me down a slide. The song itself is about a sort of out-of-this-world yearning to escape to a fantasy land. The cherry on top of this song is the key change paired with the drums and the switch from loud to soft and to yelling at some point.
“Strawberry Jam”
While not my favorite, and being highly repetitive, the song “Strawberry Jam” is definitely a song I feel many could relate to. The song is about the fear of being boring and dealing with that.
“Close One”
“Close One” is another one of my favorites from the track. This one focuses on the reminiscing of lost love and takes on a lot softer approach compared to the rest of the album. The main singer for this one is Gartland, and she does a great job depicting the feeling of walking on the edge of relational boundaries that were placed for a reason and how crossing them, while exciting, could lead to hurt and chaos. While the song is not necessarily sad, it definitely pulled at my heartstrings and provided a good contrast to the rest of the album.
“I Just Died”
Another one of my favorites is sung by a long-time favorite artist of mine, Dodie, at the beginning. Hearing her voice immediately drew me in and made this song one of my favorites on the tracklist. The song perfectly portrays the discomfiture of chasing after and being in love with someone who is not interested in you; although, the meaning is quite hidden behind all the happy playful sounds.
“Hell Of A Ride”
Moving past the seventh track because it is boring, the eighth track is a rejoicing chorus about existential dread and life flashing before your eyes. The upbeat happiness of this song totally conceals the eerie existential lyrics and thoughts of dying that the young musicians are singing about. Compared to the seventh track that I did not care for, which happened to be about Rocket League, it is definitely an emotional trip.
“As Good As It Gets”
In “As Good As It Gets,” Isaac takes the lead in this song about how we deserve more than we think, stemming from the experience of womanhood and femininity. The song touches on how it feels to not have your space respected and dealing with the patronizing tones of society.
“You, Me, Lonely”
The 10th track, “You, Me, Lonely,” is a song that covers a sort of bittersweet nature in a relationship and the wanting for more. The song is sung mainly by Dodie, aside from a few choral parts. I thought the song had really good emotional undertones while not necessarily sounding like a super sad song.
“Lights Out”
This track was a beautiful choral masterpiece that definitely did well portraying the emotions of the situation that they are singing about. This track was another sad one that investigates how one feels when a significant relationship ends and how it makes it harder in life for them to move on when they are still in love with their past love. This was a really beautiful song that I think did a wonderful job of showing how hard it can be to move on and the impact someone can have on someone’s life.
“The Grand Finale”
The final track in the album was an extravagant and melodramatic farewell that marks the end of an era in one’s life. The song showcases a variety of emotions about moving on in life, but in the end, embracing the new transition in life as a whole.
The Secret to Life by FIZZ is an amazing album that allows all of the artists to showcase their abilities but also put them together into a talented blend. The album did an excellent job showing the young adult artists’ life musings while also sounding happy and unbothered. If FIZZ continues to release albums such as this one, I think they could be a more mainstream indie band in no time. The whole album was a beautiful euphony of sounds.
