RFTO Bandwagon have just released their first full-length LP entitled Dums Will Survive on Dull Knife Records this month. Coming latently on the heels of their excellent New Jack 7" on the same imprint from last spring, RFTO Bandwagon continue with their mark of gritty folk-pop, and often sway into the weirdo territory of the genre with songs the grip the edges of so many sounds, and yet stay held together with beautifully frayed strands of brilliant songwriting. The title track on the a-side (there's 2 title tracks) starts off as a slow trotting Velvet Underground groove, but then picks up as they splay vocal interplay that weaves throughout the song in full gallop and leaves you with a feeling that this band maybe involved in some sort of tightly-held cult, whose secrets leak through their songs like rusty tears through a drain pipe.
Just when you think you got RFTO pinned down after hearing them play jangly and tattered folk ditties that scrape away at the core of what some of us wouldn't even consider a decade ago, they effortlessly bring back a sound that's simultaneously old and new, and at the same time warm and creepy. The song "Skipper Bunkum" on the b-side, slips out from under a push pin as they play with more of a post-punk sound using a chanting, hectic rhythm riddled with fuzz and keyboard, that will have you crawling out of your skin, looking for a place you'll find more comfortable.
You can pick up the Dums Will Survive LP directly from Dull Knife here, and you'd better do it quick as there's only 500 copies of this gem.
