Album Review: Fat White Family, Serfs Up!

Having taken time off for various side projects, Fat White Family have reconvened for what’s billed as the “most gratifying and unexpected creative volte face in recent musical history.” No pressure then. Serfs Up! Is certainly a strong collection of tracks. Having relocated to Sheffield, core members Lias and Nathan Saoudi set about writing the album with co-conspirator Saul Adamczewski at their own Champzone studios. The result is a fragrant potpourri of hedonistic delights.

Lead single ‘Feet’ is a densely oppressive, lyrically complex track with a hint of Leonard Cohen, while ’I Believe In Something Better’ is early Human League meets The Horrors.

Elsewhere, we get a string quartet on the sweetly sublime ‘Oh Sebastian’, and a male choir on ‘Tastes Good With The Money’, which features Baxter Dury singing over a stomping beat. ‘Vagina Dentata’ makes for deceptively easy listening with its gentle sax interlude, though as the name suggests, it has teeth. The sinister electro-calypso of ‘Kim’s Sunsets’ and the ghostly skank of ‘Rock Fishes’ provide further variety.

With additional nods to Ennio Morricone, Andy Warhol, David Axelrod and the Pet Shop Boys, FWF have most definitely upped their game with Serfs Up!

8/10