The Fever – In The City of Sleep (CD)

The band plays a brand of rock music but it goes further than that when a synthesizer becomes present through the majority of “Redhead”. The unity of these two disparate styles distinguish The Fever from other bands in the Kemado stable. The talent that the band has in creating “In The City of Sleep” unites The Fever with the rest of the Kemado bands. There are more than just plain rock styles that The Fever makes themselves known for on this CD, as the circus like atmosphere present on “Waiting For the Centipede” ties the band to acts like The Beatles and psychedelic acts.

There is an operatic quality to The Fever that does not fade during “In The City of Sleep”; even when the band is entering into a track that is not quick or hard-hitting (“Crying Wolf”), there is still a tremendous to-do about the track. The band does not attempt to just come out with a few singles and a whole lot of filler, but makes the album speak to listeners as a whole. That means that some tracks may not be appropriate for radio, but at some point each song brings something new and exciting to the disc. The hard-hitting drums of “Gypsy Cab” will get individuals up and dancing, even as the guitar works well on the underside of the track. It only takes The Fever a few minutes to move into the next style of music, as “Little Lamb & The Shiny Silver Bullets” is a track that would make any Beatles fan tear up. The Fever have no constraints, and it is the goal of creating a full album that challenges listeners fully that the band wishes to achieve. Songs may be short (less than two minutes) or extremely long (five and a half minutes), but they all contribute equally to the narrative that is “In The City of Sleep”.

The fact that there can be a walking bassline without much else in the way of music starting off “Do the Tramp” shows that The Fever does not concern themselves with various rules of arrangement or proper musicianship. “In the City of Sleep” is thus an album that is experiment while fun and amusing to a wide segment of the population without having to conform to what is expected of them. For fans of rock, psychedelia, British music, or practically anything else.

Top Tracks: Crying Wolf, Magnus

Rating: 6.2/10

The Fever – In The City of Sleep / 2006 Kemado / 16 Tracks / http://www.thefeverforever.com / http://www.kemado.com / Reviewed 21 May 2006

[JMcQ]