The latest and sixth Christian Fitness album, 'You are the ambulance' was released May 2019 through Prescription Records. A side product of the UK band Future of the Left.
So, this side project, you take the rock band principle with a guy who mainly does two things, makes rock music with bass and guitar and likes to experiment, that might be too many things. Anyway, another guy who plays drums but never really likes to repeat anything he's done before or even keep the same snare drum sound between tracks. Minimalist but always interesting and timing that Ben Johnson would die for in his drug induced hey-day but then I guess he has to be, there's only two of them in this band.
The previous release 'Nuance - the musical' was probably my album of last year. I thought that I knew or would have half an idea where that album would go but I didn't. Aside from the usual hallmarks of constant guessing they managed to pull in a whole string-based section. Not shit strings either, stings that can be substituted for classic.fm when my kids ask what station is this? The use of the noise and blending into their own style. I've heard nothing like that before.
Last years' Nuance certainly lived up to its name. The interpretation of the title/word that only Andrew Falkous and Jack Eggleston could have come up with was to tear apart almost everything we had come to expect from a Christian Fitness record. It's still a constant listen for me, a year on.

So on to the new album. Newly Colonised Moon, written with specific intent to make a few quid out of Richard Branson's Denon in flight speaker sponsorship. You really can't knock that sort of forward thinking.
A layer of guitar and bass intro, standard if you own ears, then one more layer of guitar for no other reason than just to fuck with you, which is good and it does. Hold up, someone just came to my door. I can hear them knocking. Nope, it's just the drums. The drums came in to fuck with you instead and so begins another journey trying to absorb everything that's going on but actually the whole time playing catch up to your own ears.
Falco sounds present on the vocals, neither acknowledging or denying, just telling a story as if both devils simultaneously won on a £50k lottery scratch card and decided to fuck off Spain if only Brexit had a legitimate answer to residential status. It's good rattle, never sounds weak but does need something and then it hits, progress. The last thing I expected to hear, not the progress but the direction of the song. It's like watching a flower open with your ears, if only ears would catch up to where eyes have always been. Those strings again with no warning. That was the last album, not this one? Was it? A complete song change with vocal in-tune accompaniment. It's quite jarring. Not expected it at all, there's a lot to take in. It comes across just downright not supposed to be there but it works so well you can't imagine this band doing anything else.
The beauty of songs like this is that they keep giving back. It starts with a hook or a riff or even just a neighbour coming to the door, if you are curious enough then there's enough to suck you in for quite a bit of time. Now you understand why you read that book a second time. Most of the nugget lyrics, as always, are hidden in the depth of the music. The reward only given with time spent listening.
So, that's the first song, pre-released before the album for free on Soundcloud.

If this is your thing, or sounds like your thing and you go on to hear it then you'll realise that it’s not a normal song. Instead it has all the elements of a normal song but it's going to need your involvement as well. You won't be going out much this Summer, so I suggest some really good background noise to offset the Hey Dugee tune you have stuck in your head. You could lament at Bono, like his siblings do or you could try something new or simply don't.