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 the legendary K Records, frog song 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, shoegazey textures, and widescreen melodies that would have fit in perfectly on an episode of 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."

The new LP is described as a lean half hour of deeply satisfying guitar music that feels intrinsically tied to the Pacific Northwest indie rock tradition. A blend of ‘80s punk, ‘90s alternative, and punchy modern production, frog song manages to sound timeless. Its twelve songs are presented with intentional rawness, gilded by moments of uncanny beauty. “frog song feels very full circle for me,” Funkhouser says. “The songs aren’t experiments anymore, they’re just songs–plain and simple.” Tracks like “my ceiling,” “old band,” and “cluefinder” roar to life with huge distorted guitars, shoegazey textures, and widescreen melodies that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on an episode of 120 Minutes. Elsewhere more plaintive songs like “boxy volvo” and “interstate” channel the stripped back intimacy of an MTV Unplugged session or the homespun charm that runs through much of the K catalog. Most of all, frog song highlights Funkhouser’s distinct ability to synthesize decades of music into a feeling–these aren’t copies of copies, the influences are unabashed but there’s a distinctly fish narc quality to the gauzy instrumentals, warm vocals, earnest lyricism.

Releases

Fish Narc