Funeral Party - Golden Age of Knowhere

Hearing the gritty, angst-filled debut album from Funeral Party, you would never guess that it sprang to life not far from the glamorous celebrity world of Los Angeles. Unlike their glitzy neighbours, the people of Whittier were faced with a listless, dull existence, and countered it with a backyard party movement, spawning a new age of bands who provided live music. Thus the Golden Age of Knowhere was born.
The frustration and overpowering desire to stand out is tangible, with intense, shouty vocals dominating the record. Hit track ‘New York City Moves To The Sound Of LA’, which got the band noticed, opens up the record with throbbing bass, clanging percussion and distorted electric guitar, building to Chad Elliott, backed by a chanting choir, hollering ‘New York City loves to mess around with the LA sound’. This is tipped to be an indie dance hit on this side of the pond.
The stand out track, however, has to be ‘Car Wars’. True to its name, the song starts and finishes with sci-fi beeps and echoing synths, sandwiching an anthemic rock proclamation about escapism. All the while the space music prevails in the background.
The promising start sadly dwindles as the album progresses. In the penultimate track (of this 12-track LP!) Elliott finally alters his vocal tone, bringing a huge sense of relief to the listener. ‘Relics and Ruins’ is a raw piece with the gentler vocals creating a true sense of loss, although the aah-ing treads dangerously close to indie-pop territory.
The music, too, can be a little on the generic side, with ‘Postcards of Persuasion’ fading into forgettable buzz. The final song, title-track ‘Golden Age of Nowhere’ is a typical indie rock move, with atmospheric bird and nature sounds forming an intro, although the brilliantly insistent drum beat and oddly effective sporadic statements of ‘Here We Are’ as the music fades save the song.
The lowest point has to be ‘Giant Song’, where an exciting, thumping intro and verse – resembling indie dance anthems by the likes of The Cribs – is betrayed by a dismal chorus of narcissistic wailing over what could potentially have been a powerful, stomping rant.
Nevertheless, rousing lines such as “We are the voices under the tracks, drawing you forward, pushing you back” in ‘Finale’ stick with you; and intelligent song concepts like that of ‘Just Because’ as he progresses from being trapped towards liberation give this album notable highlights, and shows that this band has promise.