You could probably make a pretty fair guess at what Cambridge-based Hamfatter is all about based on the band’s name and album title. What Part Of Hamfatter Do You Not Understand? is an album crammed with big guitars, liquor, catchy riffs, strings, pop culture, trumpets, and wry lyrics. It’s a schizophrenic cross-genre journey of exhilarating guitar-pop.

Album opener and first single “Sziget (We Get Wrecked)” is a bouncy little number about getting drunk while watching Radiohead and Gogol Bordello at Hungary’s Sziget Festival, probably something we can all relate to. We go straight from Sziget to the swingy “Come Along”, which boasts the lyric “I had an acid flashback at the very back stand of the Rufus Wainwright concert with clothes off”. The name dropping doesn’t stop there, either; Anton Barbeau, Mick Hucknall, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Jack Kerouac and Elvis Presley are all acknowledged on the album as well.

Hamfatter is remarkably adept at crossing genres, using strings and horns to help them along the way. “21st Century Sex”, while less about sex and more about learning to play Rachmaninoff on the piano and the pitfalls of spending too much time on MySpace, features swirling strings and acoustic guitar. The reggae-tinged “Do Something Stupid” will have you dancing in no time with its catchy chorus. More lovely string arrangements and a piano give “How Sweet It Is” an almost big band feel, and the guitar on “Dancing Shoes” even exhibits a bit of an island touch.

Besides the clever lyrics and successful genre-jumping, mention should be made of Eoin O’Mahony’s sonorous and very pleasant vocals. He especially displays an impressive scope on “Karma”, ranging from practically spitting the lyrics to singing in a sweet falsetto. His crooning on “How Sweet It Is” contributes to the big band style, and you can practically hear his smirk in “Dancing Shoes” when he warns “don’t fuck with us ’cause we will set your dancing shoes on fire”. The album loses some steam with the punky “I Want To Be You” and “Welcome In” – fair songs, but they just aren’t quite as interesting, musically or lyrically, as other tracks on the album. Things look up again, though, with “This Day Won’t Die”, a lovely tune that is one of the reasons Hamfatter is so often compared to Belle & Sebastian.

Before hearing What Part Of Hamfatter Do You Not Understand?, I didn’t understand any part of it. Hamfatter’s MySpace proclaims it “a third rate minstrel, variety artist or actor”. Clears things right up, there, doesn’t it? Though minstrel, artist, and even actor may apply, Hamfatter is a band that is hardly third rate. Give the album a listen and perhaps you too will understand: it’s Hamfatter. Nothing too deep, but a heck of a lot of fun.
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Links
Hamfatter [official site] [myspace] [buy it]