Words by Elliot Joseph Burr
South London moshmongers Fat Dog have had an exciting few months. In September they released their debut album, WOOF., a short, dynamic project heavy on thumping basslines, industrial EDM synths and bellowed lyrics, with frequent eclectic shifts. Glorious choral intros, loopy Klezmer outros. Two months and a hectic tour later, they’ve followed it up with a new single that finds them in a mournful, defiant mood.
'Peace Song' bursts in with the high BPM drums expected from this band, and the choral synths that break up the verses are soaring, but this isn’t quite the cacophonous riot of WOOF. A lot of space is left for frontman Joe Love’s typically booming delivery of the mournfully defiant lyrics – “But I’m in love with the world” the refrain – which echo among bass and drums. When extra layers come in, they’re more like additions than wild swerves – the saxophone in the bridge matches the melody of the choir, though video game-y synths do add a certain punch to the song’s back half. This is probably as dialled-back as Fat Dog get; the mood remains epic.
More epic still is James Ogram’s music video, in which an ostracised alien bartender steps outside his New Cross pub and, now animated and skyscraper-sized, fights a Kaiju version of Fat Dog’s canine mascot. The single soars through its climax as the Dogzilla is punched into space and the protagonist returns to the pub for a well-earned pint with his converted customers (a cast studded with familiar faces from South London’s music scene). But in the last shot, our hero is still alone among his former tormentors. He picks up the song’s refrain only at the very end. “But I’m in love with the world,” he insists, sounding weary. Mournful, tender, epic: it’s almost a Christmas song.
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