Fyfe Dangerfield - Fly Yellow Moon

It was inevitable that Fly Yellow Moon, the first solo album from Guillemots front-man Fyfe Dangerfield, would be compared to the avant-garde pop his band is famed for. There are certainly some similarities, but this side project takes his song-writing in a different direction. Made up of songs discarded whilst recording the band’s second album, Red, the brasher sound the band embraced there is mostly absent here; as is their experimental instrumentation.

‘When You Walk in the Room’, however, starts the album with uncharacteristic shouty vocals and distortion. The song is a success: a bold beginning letting Dangerfield’s tireless romanticism shine through and cementing the themes of love and life’s positives that define the record. Following this, three beautifully-written, dreamy songs see the singer’s melodic voice at its best. ‘Faster than the Setting Sun’ contrasts this with an exciting anthem, before returning once more to the Bright Eyes-esque ‘Livewire’.

Perhaps one of the most interesting songs on the album is ‘Firebird’; haunting, blissful and captivating, its medieval-sounding harmonies and folk-like melody combine to create a mesmeric sound-world, longing for the slower pace of life in the past. This is followed by the album’s lead single, ‘She Needs Me’. Probably the song where his Guillemots style appears the most, the driving strings, catchy beat and climactic chorus make this the best stand-alone track from the album. Ending with soft, romantic strings not far removed from those that opened his band’s debut, it leads smoothly into the final two, calm songs.

Fyfe Dangerfield’s Fly Yellow Moon is a beautiful record. Offering a change from his band’s current progression, it stands alone as one of the best pop masterpieces of the past few years.

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