Fighting Fiction - A Lesser of Two Evils EP

Fighting Fiction

When thinking of the Bristol music scene, electro and dance bands such as Massive Attack and Portishead come to mind, however Fighting Fiction are planning to break the mould with their indie reggae pop fusion, (which would probably break the mould in most music scenes). Formed in 2007 the band have completed a 30+ day tour and supported the likes of Laura Marling and The Automatic. Fighting Fiction takes obvious influences from bands like The Clash; this can be heard in their raw sound and in the vocals. Their debut EP titled A Lesser of Two Evils contains four tracks and is ‘a powerful collision of indie rock guitar riffs, reggae tinged punk and socially aware lyrics’. Though the band does what it says on the tin (kind of), it does so in a pretty mediocre fashion.
A Lesser of Two Evils, the title track of Fighting Fiction’s EP kicks things off with a reggae tinged beat which leads into the band’s so called ‘collision of indie rock guitar riff’ chorus. The track is meant to be a statement of what the band are all about, however it’s held back with the fact that the track is really run of the mill. The reggae aspect is there but doesn’t really add anything to the song and the chorus is neither catchy nor anthemic enough to really stay inside your head.
Second track on the EP, Camera phones and Choruses see the band step up a notch by abandoning the reggae and opt for a more conventional indie pop song. The song wouldn’t feel out of place in the Tony Hawks games of old that were played back in the day, showcasing Fighting Fiction’s raw sound and strong melodies. Camera phones and Choruses is probably the strongest track on the EP and should really have been the bands title track.
The Third track You Mean the World to Me is an attempt to demonstrate that the band is three dimensional and more than just a one trick pony, by showing off their slower, sensitive and albeit more cheesy side. Like Camera phones and Choruses the song shows off Fighting Fiction’s knack for writing a strong melody, however the lyrics are much to be desired and it all gets a bit cliché with lyrics like ‘but I love you more than you could know’.
The EP closer Sanctuary sees the band unfortunately go back to the reggae, and with that lose the pop hooks of the pervious two tracks. The track has obvious political overtones and tackles the subject of asylum seekers and immigration. However in the track Fighting Fiction seem to be trying too hard to write ‘socially aware’ lyrics.
Though Fighting fiction’s selling point is that they fuse reggae and indie, it’s also they’re biggest weakness as the title track and the EP closer are clearly the weakest tracks as they sound unsettled and not sure which sound to go for. Overall the band and EP are mediocre nothing more, nothing less

- Martin Cheung