Founded in the quiet farm town of Sulphur Springs, Texas—"Where people still say 'please' and 'thank you,'" as its chamber of commerce notes—Fair to Midland have become one of the most idiosyncratic musical forces in the Lone Star State. But as singer Darroh Sudderth—who rounds out FTM's current lineup with guitarist Cliff Campbell, drummer Brett Stowers, bassist Jon Dicken, and keyboardist/electronics manipulator Matt Langley—explains, idiosyncrasy also helps give the band its internal power.
"For the most part, our musical tastes are completely different," Suddereth begins. "All of our songs are just us trying to find a happy medium between what everyone in the band listens to—and I think that actually being able to do that is what makes us so different from a lot of other bands today."
"Disciplined stream-of-consciousness" is an apt phrase to describe Fair to Midland's music, which deftly fuses hard rock with art rock, shot through with soaring vocals, virtuoso guitars, allegorical lyrics, a driving rhythm section and richly woven keyboards. This stream-of-consciousness is impressively showcased on Fables From a Mayfly, the band's full-length debut being jointly released by Universal Republic and Serjical Strike on June 12th, 2007.
With songs such as "Kyla Cries Cologne," "April Fools and Eggmen," "A Wolf Descends Upon The Spanish Sahara," and "Dance of the Manatee" (the album's first single which is currently taking radio by storm) the band captures the ear with unparalleled force, coupled with rich orchestration reminiscent of Queen and hard rock dynamism in the vein of Tool, King Crimson and Mars Volta.
And if their song titles sound more like names of paintings, this may be intentional; they do reflect the grandeur of Fair to Midland's music: Sparkling, but not ostentatious...beautiful, but not overwhelming...powerful, but not pummeling.
