O Fracas - Fits & Starts
[I Can Count Music]

On a practical level, this long-awaited album release from Leeds outfit O Fracas already represents the band’s sense of determination and drive, given the fair amount of adversity and changes in personnel which they’ve had to overcome along the way to getting the record out onto the shelves.

From a musical point-of-view, ‘Fits & Starts’ is a diverse beast. Brilliantly-named opening track 'Brouhaha' is a wonderful example of the jerky, frenetic post-punk which the band are capable of concocting when they're on top form, presenting itself as a meticulously-crafted slice of brooding Shitdisco-esque rockness, whose faster-paced moments are more than worthy of dancefloor attention.

The heavier side to O Fracas’ work is also on display, with the likes of ‘Fact Finding’, ‘What Jim Hears’ and ‘Zeroes And Ones’ all demonstrating that a multi-layered art-rock stomp can also manage to remain distinctive and catchy in equal measure.

The quality of the record’s slower moments is sadly inconsistent in comparison with their louder counterparts, but a highlight still be found in ‘You Can Hear The World From Menwith Hill’, whose outro pits an almost flamenco-like guitar jam against some moody piano work to dazzling effect.

Closing track aside though, this album suffers a tad from a slight lull in its second half, with the bulk of the tracks failing by to re-capture some of the dizzy momentum and urgency so obviously audible in the earlier part of the work. Circumstances associated with the record’s creative process might be partly to blame here; we’re dealing with a series of songs spawned from a host of different recording sessions and band line-ups, resulting in an arrangement which unfortunately hinders the general flow of the album.

Although there are moments when you do end up bemoaning the apparent disjointedness, for want of more focus and cohesion within the LP as it plays out, the majority of the content dictates that it’s not a bad record at all, with the individual moments of promise winning through overall. It is difficult to surmise as to whether a period of stability will help out next time around, as O Fracas seem like a band built around chaos and fragility.

Fits & Starts Tracklisting:

1. Brouhaha
2. Fact Finding
3. Thousand Times
4. You Can Hear The World From Menwith Hill
5. What Jim Hears
6. And So A Scratch Runs Down The Wall
7. Follow Sue
8. Sixteen Beats
9. Forfeit
10. Train Track
11. Falling Fast Behind
12. Zeroes And Ones