Scream Finds FYDStar in the Room with Kate Proudlove
A Wrexham Bass and Drums Duo Builds Cosmic Sludge Pop Around a Guest Voice
There is no guitarist in the room when FYDStar play, and Scream turns that into the whole point. The Wrexham two-piece released the single on 22 August 2020. Gareth Symons handles vocals, bass and production. Simon Potter plays drums, and Kate Proudlove sings the other side of the story.
FYDStar’s song sits in the playlist below, and the duo’s artist profile gathers the band’s full run of coverage. Scream reached this desk through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news titles. Listen first, then read on for how two players make it this heavy.
The Hook Is Built From a Bass, a Drum Kit and Electronic Touches
Start with the hook, because FYDStar build it from less than most heavy songs use. A bass carries the riff and a drum kit carries the weight. Electronic touches fill the gaps a second guitar would normally take. FYDStar describe what they do as heavy sludge pop from a two-piece that occasionally has something to do with space. On Scream, that means a low, stomping groove with a melody sitting right on top of it.
That combination has a lineage, even if FYDStar take it somewhere stranger. Death From Above 1979 made the case first. Their 2004 album, You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine, proved that a distorted bass and a drummer could fill a room. Then Mastodon spent the next decade showing that sludge riffs can carry big melodic vocals. Crack the Skye, in 2009, is the clearest example. Scream sits where those two ideas meet, with a pop instinct neither band would admit to.
In short, the craft is in what the duo leave out. With only bass and drums in the arrangement, every part does two jobs at once. The bass is both rhythm section and lead instrument. Meanwhile, the drums push the song forward while leaving space for the voices.
The Lyric on Scream Gives FYDStar a Planet-Locked Narrator and Kate Proudlove the Upper Hand
Then there is the story, which is the second hook. The narrator is firmly stuck on his home planet, and the band themselves call him a bit of a gob on legs. The object of his affection is about to leave for somewhere offworld. She is already irritated with him before the song gets going.
Kate Proudlove plays that part, and her voice turns a heavy riff song into a duet with a punchline. Gareth Symons sings the narrator with full conviction. Proudlove, by contrast, answers with the cool distance of someone who has already packed. Near the end, the narrator tries one desperate burst of cosmic poetry. It does not work.
He does not get the girl, and the song thunders to a close. In fact, that is a rare thing in heavy music: a joke that lands without undercutting the riff. The humour lives in the words, while the music plays it completely straight. As a result, the song works twice, once as a stomping rock track and once as a short story with a very human ending.
IndieRock.News’s curator team: “Scream is the sound of a two-piece that refuses to apologise for missing a guitarist. The bass does the heavy lifting, the drums keep it moving, and Kate Proudlove gets the best line in the room.”
Three Minutes, Two Instruments and One Guest Voice Shape the Structure of Scream by FYDStar
Above all, the structure is tight. Scream runs three minutes and nine seconds, and the band bill its video as a heavy story told in three minutes. There is no long build and no extended outro. Instead, the verses set up the narrator, the chorus carries the hook, and the closing section gives the story its ending.
Gareth Symons produced the track himself, which explains how deliberate the arrangement sounds. Nothing goes to waste, and the duo deliberately leave open the space a guitar would usually fill. FYDStar followed Scream with Sweetness in March 2021, a single the band called their poppiest. For now the band are resting. Meanwhile, Symons is putting his riffs and reverb into a solo project called City And The Stars.
For listeners who like heavy music with a melody and a sense of humour, Scream is an easy recommendation. Stream it on Spotify, open the Spotify player or get it on Apple Music.
Follow FYDStar across platforms: Spotify, Spotify playlists, Apple Music, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, YouTube channel, Instagram and Facebook.
About Author
