When you hear the word “supergroup”, certain bands come to mind: Traveling Wilburys; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; perhaps The Highwaymen or even Them Crooked Vultures. Although they may not be household names in their own right, Fizz are a supergroup with a difference.
The Irish indie-pop musician Orla Gartland and her English counterpart Dodie – both of whom initially grew their fan bases via YouTube – team up with their friends Greta Isaac and Martin Luke Brown for a debut album with bucket loads of zany charm.
These are predominantly indie-pop songs, with tracks like High in Brighton and The Secret to Life recalling noughties bands such as Los Campesinos!, Black Kids or a less pristine Alphabeat.
The Beatles are a clear influence on the psych-pop of Strawberry Jam, echoes of Queen abound on Hell of a Ride, and the epic closer The Grand Finale references everything from Carole King to Electric Light Orchestra to Thomas the Tank Engine.
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‘The phone would ring and it would be Mike Scott from the Waterboys or Bono from U2. Everyone wanted to talk to my father’
Trading vocals and excellent four-part harmonies throughout lends both a versatility and a theatricality to these songs, which would transfer nicely to a stage musical. Fizz’s explorations of friendship, love and twenty-something life are largely (and enjoyably) frivolous, but the outlier is the emotional sucker punch of You, Me, Lonely, a treatise on lost love, with lyrics such as “Think of a joke without your laugh/ Think of the kids we’ll never have/ That’s so sad.”
Fizz have crafted an impressive debut that’s fun and engaging but never silly or excessive.
