Hailing from Elgin (no jokes about losing marbles, please) in the distant north of Scotland, FICKLE PUBLIC are an enthusiastic young buncha tykes hot off the blocks from previous single releases on Fierce Panda and supports with the tricksy, awkward likes of neo-Emo punkers Biffy Clyro, Jetplane Landing and Alkaline Trio.
And, while it's a lazy man who brackets his bands by the groups they support, that shaky theory actually holds a degree of water in FP'S case, as their barbed'n'twisted Emo-pop sound weighs in within gobbing distance of said namechecked outfits, at least if this memorably-titled new single has any say in the matter.
I've really no idea how the ex-'Friends' star Courtney Cox Arquette actually figures in the song's lyrics (overall, I think it's a Funeral For A Friend-style thang about my girl dun gone in Emospeak, but I can't be sure), but then it's a tough one to follow singer Alan Ferguson as he vies between throat-shredding screeching and mournful croon, while the band make with the spuzzed-up riff segments and clear a space for the odd plangent clearing as well as slipping in the expected Math-rock tempo-defying acrobatics along the way.
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Of course, if you've tuned in here with any regularity in recent years, you'll know that most bands exuding ye olde Eau De Emo are not usually this reviewer's favoured Hemlock Daiquiri, but Fickle Public are one of the better pretenders to the throne this hack has heard of late, and their sheer exuberance here brings them sizzling home in style. Not bad at all.
(Fickle Public's debut album "Bucko" is released on February 13, 2006)
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