Uber Rock Introduces: Fuzz Manta
Written by Jason Daniel Baker
Saturday, 04 January 2014 03:30
There is often a sense of curiosity when you get to a party late. You wonder what you missed and speculate based on who is there about what may have happened. Thus when your humble reviewer was looking for a female-fronted psychedelic rock band to write about he – that is to say ‘I’ – found myself more than seven years and four albums behind the curve in enjoying my latest discovery.
Danish stoner rock outfit Fuzz Manta has been kicking it in ‘hyggeligt’ venues in their stronghold of Copenhagen, Denmark and across Europe since 2006 with an eclectic, edgy, intricately textured sound. The blues and funk-tinged blend of precision hard rock interpreted by this foursome (formerly fivesome having jettisoned rhythmic axe) has been noticed and celebrated nearly everywhere they have played. They are reputed to be one of the most well-rehearsed bands in Scandinavia.
The melodic vocal lines of ballsy, charismatic and foxy singer Lene Kjaer Hvillum (formerly lead vox of the Davolinas and all-female outfit Cherry Overdrive) meld with the delicious licks of formidable guitarist Frederik Jensen and hard-hitting percussion of drummer Pelle Moltke in crafting structurally impressive but wildly inventive aural articulations of viking melancholy and female frigidity so intrinsic to the Danish way of being. It is an irresistible serving for true fans of bad-ass psychedelia.
Having reached and maintained a high standard on stage and in studio over the course of four albums (‘Smokerings’ 2009, ‘Opus II’ 2011 , ‘Vortex Memplex’ 2012, and ‘The Stonewolf’ 2013) and many tours the band has nevertheless done so after the normal changes groups go through. The subjective impact of those changes can be heard when comparing the different albums.
The replacement of bass-player Morten Clod-Svensson in 2011 with Janus Valstad coincided with a move toward a more adventurous approach in reinventing their already ornate sound. The sublime subleties of their use of distortion and vocals which feature a hint of a Nordic accent relating English lyrics are but two noticeable aspects. The immaculate feel and ear these musicians have for texture is heard is every thing they compose together.
Jensen was felled by a medical emergency (given they are in Copenhagen it was probably a liver problem or caused by a bicycle accident) and his resulting surgery crippled Fuzz Manta’s 2013/2014 Nordic tour plans in support of their 2013 album ‘The Stonewolf’. They aim to hit the road later in 2014 to cover the lost ground after their lead axe has fully recovered.
So from a country populated by rude weirdos speaking an utterly bizarre language while eating gross food and drinking hard liquor under dreary weather comes something worthwhile. It was bound to happen eventually. Who knows if it will happen again.
http://www.fuzzmanta.com/
https://www.facebook.com/fuzzmanta