OK! Crazy Fiction Lady – Mystery Dinosaur Railroad
When young bands build their reputation almost exclusively on fun, participatory and engaging live shows – the studio can be a dangerous place. With many crucial elements missing, bands may find themselves (and consequently their songs) lacking energy, passion and the ability to connect with their audience. Dunedin’s OK! Crazy Fiction Lady, are in part, one such band. Over the course of this year, the trio has gained a deserved reputation for some of the most entertaining and exciting shows around with chanting, party-poppers and ridiculous amounts of smiling the norm. These facts therefore weighed heavily upon my mind as I begun to listen to the groups full studio debut “Mystery Dinosaur Railroad”.
However, as the self-titled opening track began, I had a strong feeling this EP would leave me with a smile upon my face. With punchy, upfront radio production ‘OK! Crazy Fiction Lady’ is a simple piece of catchy pop, its self-reverential nature falling safely on the fun side of pretentiousness. Its chant filled ending losing none of its live excitement, giving the listener the almost unstoppable urge to sing along.
Unfortunately, follow up ‘Fuck Pop’ does not survive the shift from the stage to the stereo in the same manner. Its chorus (bearing similarity to TFF’s ‘Fucksurf’) continues past the point of enjoyment reached in the live setting losing impact and taking away from the frantic versus and superbly buzzy almost Tom Morello styled guitar solo.
Thankfully the final two studio tracks on the EP align themselves with ‘OK! Crazy Fiction Lady’ with their vitality and fun. EP centerpiece ‘Books’, easily the mellowest component is a shimmering respite although suffering from some slightly frustrating audible bass audio clipping.
It probably seems overkill to mention the word ‘fun’ again, but in summation: fun is the essence of OK!CFL. While they’re not going to be making a life changing opus’ anytime soon, they will be having serious amounts of fun. And if you give this EP a listen, you might just too.
3.5/5
