FIDLAR - Surviving The Dream

If asked to succinctly describe FIDLAR’s output to date, one might suggest ‘melodic punk fury with acutely self-aware lyricism’. The five-plus years since 2019’s ‘Almost Free’ may be a musical lifetime away, but the outfit’s decision to wait until mosh pits opened up to road-test new material proves a fruitful one. ‘Surviving The Dream’ brims with the band’s exhilarating live presence as much as it distils their best qualities into song; it’s as oversharing with its lyrics as it is escapist in its sound. The tension and release of ‘Nudge’; the stop-start of ‘Dog House’; the delicious petulance of ‘I Don’t Want To Do This’ (all the better for never finding out what ‘this’ is); the overstimulated ‘fuck off’ to everything and nothing that is ‘Get Off My Wave’ all bristle with liveness, owing in part, one would imagine, to the group’s decision to self-produce. It’s clean but not slick, precise but with edges left unshaved. Frontman Zac Carper’s lyrical self-awareness too reaches new heights: the almost comically clean pop-punk sound of ‘Sad Kids’ is met with the similarly tongue – almost-in-cheek lines “I keep chasing dragons / And jumping off the wagon / Fucking up is my passion”. In the same vein, ‘Making Shit Up’ ruminates on rumination, using a jarring ukulele sound at increasing speed to impeccably mirror the song’s message with musical claustrophobia. 

The record also features some of the best songs the band have written. Opener ‘Fix Me’ features a huge breakdown along with what could be a coda for the record – or even band – itself: “I’m the type of crazy that’s not the cute type”. ‘Orange County’ moves from Blink-182-like verses to a giant, Weezer-like chorus, while the pinnacle comes with ‘Change’ (also indebted in part to Rivers Cuomo and pals via, naturally, some certain predecessors from Boston), its chorus pure live punk euphoria and its guitar solo surprisingly – and satisfyingly – sprawling. ‘Surviving The Dream’ is the kind of record that incites every emotion, all at once, in the most rewarding way.