Foolish Atoms Gives You a Taste of Yesteryear

For many people in my generation who are barely reaching the age of 25, we have next to no knowledge of what “good rock music” is like. Thanks to Foolish Atoms, the youth of today will learn to appreciate the influences of yesteryear with A Crack in the Glass Eye.

Foolish Atoms (also known as Chris Norrison) is a drummer for an art-rock band out of Hull, UK called Heroes of the Mexican Independence Movement.  In recent years he has decided to step out from behind that drum-kit and make his own original material. In Chris’s own words: “Foolish Atoms is music made mostly at night with guitars, percussion, voice, Wurlitzer Funmaster, world map on the wall, periodic guilt, delusions of grandeur, metabolic howitzers, traffic and trains buried in the mix, electrical sharp shine, the entire oil of an eye, peculiar accumulations, smoke, huge 70s headphones, shock tactics, Newland panoramics, bass amp, red-brick tundra, a blister for a christ and a hand to hold your nose.” I’d just call it plain good music, but that’s just me!

The follow up to Songs for Insomniacs and Narcoleptics is one that is bound to set the listener on a journey to a time many of us didn’t have the chance to experience.  With sound that invokes the memory of Lou Reed’s Velvet Underground days with a splash of Echo and The Bunnymen, Foolish Atoms is on a mission to show the younger generations how to do it like the legends do.

It’s not fiction. Foolish Atoms really does channel a lot of legendary aspects such as the track “Fiction Master” which carries a Radiohead like style. With a very long instrumental intro featuring guitar and a light cymbal in the background the song is very hypnotic until you hit the lyrics nearly a minute into the two minute song. Then it is as if you have snapped out of this relaxed state to be greeted with very poetic lyrics that bring to life a story of a man selling fantasy to the real world.

When I do use artistic comparison, I don’t do it lightly, and the artist has to sound as close as possible before I ever think of comparing them. Many artists say they sound like someone else and don’t even come close. When it comes to Foolish Atoms, many artists are clearly influencing him and his music is a pure homage to the musicians who came before him.  He doesn’t cover other artists. He honors them through his own sound.

With each track throughout the album, from the lead single “How to Remain Solid Under a Sky of Gas” to the final track “Universal Fielder,” Chris covers this really delicate spectrum of melodies that have the power to rip emotions right out of you. Not yet in my time reviewing music I have felt this emotional while covering new artists. If you’re not ready to feel something deep, this is not an album for you.

If you are willing to let it all out, the lovely folk over at Adult Teeth, along with the release of A Crack in the Glass Eye have also re-released the debut album Songs for Insomniacs and Narcoleptics for your listening pleasure.  So what are you waiting for? Check out Foolish Atoms today!

Foolish Atoms on the web:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FoolishAtoms
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/adultteeth/foolish-atoms-how-to-remain
Bandcamp: http://adultteeth.bandcamp.com/album/a-crack-in-the-glass-eye

 — Serena Butler | @LaRenceB