Fortune - Staring At The Ice Melt
Review by Jack Foley
GALLIC newcomers Fortune can confidently lay claim to pepping up the dancefloors with hip debut album Staring At The Ice Melt, a generally engaging intro from this funky new outfit.
Having began life as a solo project for main vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and former band-mate of Tepr, Lionel Pierres, Fortune quickly recruited Pierre Lucas to take care of the synths and Hervé Loos the drums, thereby generating a fuller, funkier sound.
Perrick Devin, a veteran of the French music scene who had previously played with Phoenix, then helped to engineer the first studio sessions and subsequently slotted seamlessly into the set-up contributing bass, guitar and synths, and cementing the line up that would record the album.
Mixing then came from the legendary Stéphane “Alf” Briat, whose previous credits include Air, Phoenix and Sebastian Tellier… making Staring At The Ice Melt an immediately hot prospect.
The result, while flawed in places, signals the arrival of a promising new Gallic talent… and one that’s sure to lend a hip edge to many a party this coming summer season.
Tracks like Under The Sun, Bully and Since You’re Gone deliver a highly appealing blend of Phoenix and Air that truly encapsulate Fortune’s penchant for crafting shimmering pop hooks with slices of euphoric disco and a heads-down dancefloor ethos.
They’re fresh, funky and celebratory… even though they conform to the synth-based pop that’s currently in vogue at the moment.
They’re not averse to some darker stuff, either, as less successful moments such as Highway will attest – although the over-use of vocoder laced vocals and an ’80s influence sometimes disappoints.
Fancy Role, meanwhile, has some more whiny vocals and a really menacing synth throb underpinning it, to suggest they can get atmospheric when they want to. Likewise Poison… which rates as a highlight.
They’re at their very best when appealing to the mainstream, however, with their pop moments among the album’s most catchy moments. Bully is just a great fun track, while the cute guitar licks and handclap beats of Mission end the album on a high to rival the head-rush euphoria of opening salvo Under The Sun.
Come the final few seconds, Fortune will have done more than enough to win you over to their charms.
Download picks: Under The Sun, Bully, Mission, Poison
Track listing: