Grumbling Fur
Preternaturals

Probably me and dear Horny are here on debaser to fill the empty spaces of certain artists known only by me, him, and a few other close friends; today, for the occasion, I've decided to play it safe and talk about a band that can be placed halfway between commercial appeal and alternative work.

Surely in Preternaturals by the duo Grumbling Fur, each of you might hear various bands and influences, but I would like to try to summarize everything they tell me in one sentence: Like listening to the Depeche Mode reinterpret the XTC of Skylarking and vice versa. Obviously, what they can offer is not just this. If, as I think, almost all of you know XTC, you are certainly aware that their Beatlesian-origin psychedelia, reevaluated for the '80s, is not at all trivial and one-directional: from orchestral songs to bucolic atmospheres on the edge of Folk.

The Grumbling Fur eliminate the classic Rock instruments and introduce synth pads, loop stations, and drum machines, leaving an aura of unease and constant fear during the listening experience. Certainly, my ear in these atmospheres has found the band of Dave Gahan.

The album is very catchy, and the endless melodic solutions live with happy approval. Usually, I write my impressions during listening, but the radical changes from one track to another prevent me from having a precise image, moving from pure synth-pop pieces to freak folk songs, and even hints not too veiled towards vaporwave.

It is a lively night under the covers, while the body rests its tired limbs, the brain sparks and begins to sail towards stormy seas, relaxes under a scorching sun in green expanses, gets lost during a storm on never-trodden paths of an immense futuristic megalopolis, and allows itself to be carried between a dream and a nightmare through hyper-dimensional bridges where time floats between past, present, and future, ready to dive into the next vision.