Fixers - Iron Deer Dream

If one of your greatest fans is Yannis Phillippakis and your genre is listed on Facebook as ‘Cosmic Crunk-Haus’, then it’s probably safe to say that your music is not going to appeal to the average JLS or My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding fan. Not that Fixers would consider this at all when crafting their dense, melodic sounds, which often amount to much more than the sum of their parts.

Of all the bands that make up Oxford’s Blessing Force collective, Fixers are perhaps the most likely to make it big, having recently appeared on Radio 1’s Live Lounge, performing a slowed-down shoegaze version of Rihanna’s ‘What’s My Name?’. ‘Iron Deer Dream’ is a real statement of intent, sounding like a more focused and direct Animal Collective. Layers of synths and vocals blend like a mouthwatering cocktail on the Beach Boys’ Kokomo bay, before the drums kick in, building up to the truly huge chorus. Thirty seconds of instrumental filler that could pass for the soundtrack to an M&S Xmas advert as an outro seems unnecessary, but it does not soften the overall impact of the track. Similarly to the Vaccines, Fixers condense their vast wealth of influences into a powerful concoction with the ability to interest all but the most hardcore of X-Factor devotees.