Fatmunk's New Single 'Alaska' is a Dreamy Hit
Emma Buckley
Belfast-based funk-rock quartet Fatmunk are back with their new single Alaska which mixes moody, melancholy vocals and funky acoustic rhythms to create a psychedelic spin on the modern indie sound.
Lead vocalist Caolan Tomlinson describes the song as something that just happened all at once: the initial idea for the song is almost exactly how it turned out to be, with the only notable difference being its shift towards the spacey and psychedelic, rather than sticking true to the classic acoustic sound that was originally envisioned. It feels like the right choice for the song, as a constant strength of Fatmunk’s music is their ability to grab you with their retro live-band sound and then transport you somewhere else with their immersive, dreamy indie-rock riffs.
In this way, Alaska is a triumph. Caolan describes the track as the song he is most proud of so far. In terms of the song’s meaning – the track is full of mournful, moody lyrics like “slow days, burning on the outside, so lost, feelings that you’ll never find” – the band have various ideas about how the track can be interpreted. Though Caolan wrote the song himself, he says “I don’t know what Alaska is about – it’s about something, clearly. The thing is with lyrics, you can take them at a surface level, but there is meaning beyond the lyrics and that’s much more subjective.” The truth of this became evident when I asked the rest of the band for their thoughts on the lyrics. Drummer Matt Holland described the song as being about “wanting to be successful but getting stuck in this hole of doing the same thing but nothing’s coming out of it” while bassist and backing vocalist David Dalzell sees it as a “Tarantino approach: making it for yourself” which speaks to the band as a whole, who started out as a group of friends and built the band from scratch.
As the band let me in on the recording process of Alaska, it becomes clear that their creative chemistry in the studio is undeniable. The guitar was recorded in one take and became one of their favourite guitar parts from any of the band’s songs. It was written with a live audience in mind, to give crowds something they can sing back to. Guitarist Ben Murray sets the scene: “we set up in this garage rehearsal studio space, amp up loud, five mics on (…) we usually do it part by part, but I just had the pedal set up and played it exactly as it’s played live.” Combined with some masterful drumming, gorgeous vocals and startlingly strong production quality, the track proves Matt isn’t wrong when he (jokingly) refers to himself and the band as a “hit-maker”. David remarks on the difference between the first and fourth mix of Alaska, as the sounds became “wider and much better” and marked a distinct contrast from their previous single: “Neighbourhoods is aggressive and sharp while Alaska is a lot dreamier and more melodic and soft.”
Despite the difference in sound, Alaska is another hard-hitting success, a product of each band member’s talent and creativity, as well as an unabashed nod to some of their inspirations – the title Alaska comes from the Jon Krakauer novel and 2007 film Into the Wild, while the beginning of the song is a nod to Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side. The band credit the song’s producer, Matt Weir, for “killing it” in the production side of the song’s development.
It seems that every band have their own process for releasing music. For Fatmunk, the decision to release Alaska as a single was, in their own words, a somewhat cynical one. It is undoubtedly their most accessible song so far, one that they hope will attract new listeners and take them further in the music scene. Matt describes Alaska as “more easily digestible compared to our other stuff” while David, more optimistically, believes that it’s “good to show both sides” of the band: “We got the funky thing out with (our previous single) Neighbourhoods, and then this is the other side of that.”
Commercial success isn’t the only concern when it comes to being an indie band in Belfast. When asked about a potential full-length album, David shares that the band was “originally all about the album stuff” until scheduling and financing got in the way, as well as the challenge of finding the right studio to record in. But this hasn’t stifled Fatmunk’s creativity one bit – in fact, it’s only strengthened their success. Caolan believes that when you drop an entire album, the individual tracks “kind of get lost” in each other. Releasing singles allows each track to have its own breathing space, and gives fans and new listeners alike something new and exciting to anticipate. Ben sees the bright side in this process of releasing singles whenever it feels right: “putting singles out is more achievable, attainable, exciting.”
Despite the band’s self-consciousness about commercial success and balancing more accessible singles with their funkier tracks, Fatmunk have nothing to fear when it comes to attracting fans. With another headline gig lined up this Thursday at Limelight 2, and a gorgeous new music video to accompany the single, the band’s momentum is undeniable. Their plans for the rest of the year? More singles, more songwriting, more live material. The era of Fatmunk is just beginning.
Fatmunk will be performing a headline show on Thursday 8th June at The Limelight. Tickets here. Also, check out the music video for Alaska.
Emma Buckley is an MA Poetry student at Queen’s University Belfast and Head of Culture at The Scoop.