The Faim is a band founded in 2014 in Perth, Australia, a country that has offered us and still offers us famous and varied bands such as AC/DC of course, but also Midnight Oil or Unitopia. This time, the music of Australians is close to American bands such as Fall Out Boy or Panic! At The Disco. After having taken its time to compose and find its style, the combo released its first EP "Summer Is A Curse" in the summer of 2018, produced by John Feldmann who worked precisely with Panic!.... and whose some of the tracks can be found on this first album "State Of Mind".
This filiation with the American cousins is immediately evident in a warm, energetic and addictive "Tongue Tied" with choruses which will certainly be a hit live. The drums let loose at the very end of the track as it can get angry on the track "Amélie" in the pre-refrain while offering to a certain extent some melodic breaks between semi acoustic verses, an electric chorus and an air bridge (we are not far from an alternative rock almost progressive...).
The Faim shows off its talent to offer also more compact, simpler and even classic tracks in their construction, while not losing sight of the fact that they must be easily memorable. In this perspective, "Word Apart" fulfils its role with a more synthetic aspect that is not unpleasant, bringing a beautiful modernity to the subject without falling into the electronic overkill that often phagocytes some contemporary pieces. 'Summer Is A Curse' is based on this effective modernity built around an attractive chorus repeated over and over again, which will not take long to remain in memory. But sometimes, some tracks lack consistency, especially in the muffled and somewhat too melodic 'Where The River Runs' with its melody frankly lacking in relief, a 'Humans' that would have required a little madness to totally win the support, or a 'Beautiful Dreams' with the content of a first hit made for a lambda band from 'American Got Talent'.
With this first album, the Australian band offers a beautiful variety of styles to brighten up the autumn that is coming up. Despite a certain lack of personality and originality, "State Of Mind" is an album that fulfils its purpose to spend a pleasant moment with energetic tracks and others softer, well produced. The try is therefore transformed for The Faim, but let's hope in the future that the band emancipates itself a little and ventures towards some more personal compositions.