Above: fish narc new single "my ceiling" is available now!
fish narc, the musical moniker of Olympia, WA-based songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Ben Funkhouser, has announced his new album, frog song. Due out February 14th via K, frog song [KLP298] fully embraces the guitar-forward indie rock that's always informed Funkhouser's genre-hopping music. The album combines timeless songwriting with '90s alternative grit and heart-on-sleeve lyricism to show off a whole new side of fish narc's world.
To mark the announcement fish narc has shared frog song's tremendous opening track, "my ceiling." It's a blast of fuzzed-out guitars, gazing shoe textures, and widescreen melodies that would have fit in perfectly on an episode of MTV 120 Minutes.
To mark the announcement fish narc has shared frog song's tremendous opening track, "my ceiling." It's a blast of fuzzed-out guitars, gazing shoe textures, and widescreen melodies that would have fit in perfectly on an episode of MTV 120 Minutes.
Funkhouser discussed the new song saying:
"This song is about my girlfriend, Emma. She plays bass in the fish narc live band and we rock together. The lightness she inspires in me is a gift and this song is a tiny reflection of that. I was hanging out in NYC with keyblayde808 and remghost at a studio where we made the instrumental without much thought. The song came together so quickly that we decided to perform it on tour the following month. I loved seeing people fake sing along, or actually catch it by the last hook, and I took this to mean it was a banger."
"This song is about my girlfriend, Emma. She plays bass in the fish narc live band and we rock together. The lightness she inspires in me is a gift and this song is a tiny reflection of that. I was hanging out in NYC with keyblayde808 and remghost at a studio where we made the instrumental without much thought. The song came together so quickly that we decided to perform it on tour the following month. I loved seeing people fake sing along, or actually catch it by the last hook, and I took this to mean it was a banger."
Over the past decade Funkhouser has been making a broad array of music under the fish narc banner. He first made a name for himself as a part of the Thraxxhouse and GothBoiClique collectives, helped to pioneer the wave of raw underground rap that exploded in the mid to late 2010s, and released numerous inventive solo albums, eventually catching the attention of K founder, Calvin Johnson, who recognized that Funkhouser's impressive and diverse body of work was operating in the same unconstrained DIY tradition that defined the long-running label. "It was clear from the first encounter that he has a vision and follows through in a trying to achieve it," Johnson explains. "Plus, his songs are catchy, the dancing is mandatory, the sing-along irresistible." And that's a fitting description of frog song, a record that feels satisfyingly familiar but deeply unique, all packed with big hooks and even bigger heart.
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