The Fear and Trembling's debut CD, The Fear and Trembling's Octopus, comes on like a long-lost concept album by one of the classic 70's prog-rock bands (Steely Dan, Genesis and Supertramp are some points of comparison).

While this disc isn't a concept album per-se, TFAT pack their 60 minute debut full of elaborately arranged orchestral rock tunes. The band makes good use of the piano and strings like cello, violin and lap steel to add some extra dimensions to each song and the band's musical chops are obviously as every note and chord seems to have been chosen with care. Careful production and engineering also brings out the sound of each instrument so that every note is both balanced and clear.

There is enough diversity in the music so that listener attention spans don't lag. The music and song tempos rise and fall within individual tracks and across the disc as the band builds their musical lanscape. It is hard to pick a single stand-out cut as all the tracks have a unique identity of their own and there really is no filler on this disc. As a starting point to the band's music, go out to their MySpace page (link below) and listen to the orchestral "Introduction" which tracks into the grunge introduction to "Octopus". Some of the other recommended cuts are "Red Panda" and the Smashing Pumpkins-ish "Centipede".

Given the intricate song structures and the 'big' sound of this new disc, I'm interested in seeing how the band translates this sound to the live stage. The band has a couple of upcoming area shows over the next few weeks:

June 12, 2009, 9:00PM, Supreme Trading, Brooklyn, New York
July 15 2009, 8:00PM, R Bar, New York, New York

Links:
The Fear and Trembling's MySpace Profile