“Our sound takes cues from the post-punk era but it has a psychedelic influence too,” says Mike Barrett of indie four-piece Fiction. “But not in the way it’s spoken about now, which is a kind of pastiche of the ’60s, but psychedelic in the sense of a warped reality whether it’s lyrically or musically.”
What Barrett is alluding to is an interesting premise – the band’s entire persona is built upon deep philosophical issues of identity, an existential debate which at its heart lies the questioning of the band’s own ‘fiction’. Pretty high brow stuff eh? They make a pretty good noise too.
What could be confused as being an art project is actually a refreshing change of pace from the usual hang-ups and issues that bands seem to be drawn to. Fiction is an outfit almost devoid of contextualisation – Barrett describes the band’s method in writing and the whole ethos fits together.
“The way we write is that we sing the melody over whatever’s being played and find a word that our brain randomly picks out by chance to sing,” he explains. “A nonsense word that doesn’t necessarily make sense and we take that and work on it from there.”
“We’re using chance in an interesting way. All of our songs lyrically have a twist on reality – a distorted view.”
Words by Samuel Ballard
Where: London
What: Eccentric, awkward pop music
Unique Fact: Currently writing their debut album, the band is looking to release it later this year.
Get 3 songs: ‘Big Things’, ‘Phyllis’, ‘Mars 500’
