The next time you find yourself wondering, “What’s real?”, you can rest assured that Funny Face House IS REAL–or at least the band’s new 6-song LP out on Youth Riot is (digitally) real. Ontological questions aside, we can also assert that Funny Face House is a real band from Tacoma, WA featuring the artist/musicians Adam Szyndrowski and Mallery Petty on guitar/vocals and bass, respectively, as well as Youth Riot Records’ Daniel Cohn on drums. The group’s new collection of songs was recorded to 4-track in a living room of the house shared by Szyndrowski and Petty, and it captures the band’s casual, do-it-yourself spirit with gritty immediacy. Unabashedly tone deaf, IS REAL foregrounds the exuberance of creation over the rigors of musicianship–while still managing to dish out plenty of tasty hooks!
“SOUP,” the album’s psychedelic opener, sounds like a band trying to manage the onset of a massive buzz. Giddy energy prevails while a hazy late-night approach to things has everything upside down and slightly out of whack. With the rhythm section chugging along at a casual, glue sniffing pace, Szyndrowski unleashes a chiming guitar lead like a crooked perma-grin while his vocals sound as though they were sung with a mouth full of Spaghetti-O’s and a styrofoam cup over the mic. Like the later tracks “Lazy Susan” and “California“, “SOUP” is the smoky shadow of a catchy pop tune but it comes dusted in lo-fi grit and rusty jangle.
Other tracks like “1998,” “Cadillac,” and “Green Tercel” find Funny Face House smashing their head on the grungier side of the Punk Rock. “1998” borrows a stolen riff and drives it into a ditch just for the fun of it while “Cadillac hauls ass with its backside dragging sparks and flame. Busted out kick drum and bass fuzz makes a crusty halo on the later cut, as Szyndrowski bashes white lightning licks with his wig on fire. Equally off its nut, “Green Tercel” rolls out of the garage like a juiced up beater lurching forward in clouds of carbon monoxide as the band sings along obliviously. Dented but proud, Funny Face House proves cruisin’ on empty is still the best way to get high on the fumes of inspiration.
