Not That Painful: Faron Square

Maybe a little over a week ago I wrote about NITES, a lovely little bedroom-pop project from Tokyo. A little poking around reveals NITES, along with two other bands, started up a new label called Cuz Me Pain. Alongside NITES are another Make Believe Melodie’s favorite AAPS, which instantly made the third band representing this upstart exciting. That group, Faron Square, manages to meet all the expectations conjured up by being on the same label as the above bands, but also carves out a sound not derivative of NITES or AAPS.

Like both those groups, though, Faron Square distinctively sounds like a very intimate project. The fact their first release will be out on cassette very soon should sorta give you a hint about the music. Whereas NITES turns inward to create fragile pop and AAPS basically can’t decide on what genre they’d like to be tossed into, Faron Square make the most outward music of the bunch. “She’s My Lust (Suite)” apes Radiohead creepy guitars before spinning off into a whole bunch of other loud directions, while “ManyTapes (Short Ceremony)” ends up being an honest-to-goodness bruising rock song. The highlight, though, comes on “Reason Of Lithography,” which can best be described as Faron Square trying to write a Klaxons or Friendly Fires song from their living room. Bedroom nu-rave…surprisingly excellent. Keep an eye on this label and this group.