So Many Prophets, Fetish

Female-fronted alternative bands in the late 90s. Garbage had set the template and, whether unfair or not, others were judged against them. So it was with Fetish, and unfairly I think.

Hailing from South Africa, this is a band that mixed the ‘goth’ of bands like Evanescence and, yes, mixed in those melodic moments Shirley Manson and her band of merry men did so well, but there’s something else that takes this album beyond a Garbage soundalike.

For one thing, there’s a yearning, tinged with a subtle anger. I’m partly reminded of Julianne Regan’s performance from All About Eve’s third album mixed with elements of bands such as Cocteau Twins and The Mission. They certainly stood out in the musical landscape of London back in 2000 when I was first introduced to them by a colleague from Cape Town. Part nostalgia, perhaps, but they had more than enough interesting aspects to their sound and composition to break through.

Take Leah, for example. The jazz-inspired bass notes break through the acoustic guitar strum to catch the ear, while Michelle Breeze’s ethereal vocals add a melancholic air to proceedings. And that melancholy and, in places, malevolent vibe, carry through many of the tracks. Yet they are not bleak or depressing. And they are also not full of clichéd gothic stories.

The band also makes liberal use of electronic music in their final sound, merging it with slide guitar or finger-picked arpeggios to create atmospheric soundscapes that suck the listener in. On opening tracks, If and Permanent, these electronic elements really bring a different perspective and depth to their brand of alternative pop-rock music that other bands of their ilk never had. On Mind In Two, they recorded a song that could sit alongside Teardrops from Massive Attack’s Mezzanine and it wouldn’t sound inferior, yet was out a full year before.

The band clearly enjoyed bringing different genres and sounds to their music. A cleverly integrated rap midway through A Reels Romance is just one of many examples. It’s hard to imagine the song without this moment, which serves to strengthen the song rather than feel like it’s been shoe-horned in because it was ‘on trend’ for the era.

The sign of a great album is when a song drops in the last third and lifts it up higher than you thought it would. This is exactly what Ground Below does. A lesser band with fewer solid songs would have put this track in fourth spot, but on So Many Prophets it’s perfectly placed at number nine. A deceptively slow number, with a scratchy fuzz guitars over a picked acoustic with its elegant slides, and a wistful piano accompaniment as it draws to a close, it’s a real highlight among many.

The album ends as it started with an introspective and moody piece, although Fear Of Hurting washes over you with bright guitar phrases and pop ballad sensibilities, yet retaining the brooding atmosphere that kicked off the album. And Breeze’s vocals continue to mesmerise right to her final soaring notes and breathy sighs.

Originally released by Virgin/EMI on CD only, one can only hope that there are enough people who would line up for a vinyl release – especially if it were the special edition that also contained the four-track Shade Of A Ghost EP. You could count on me to be there, maybe even leading the way.