It’s hard to know what to think about The Fancy Toys. On the one hand, they’re a perfectly pleasant concoction of myriad styles, whisked together with wit and flare. On the other, they’re smug-faced dilettantes whose music is little more than a vehicle for demonstrating how bloody clever they are, what with the constant genre-hopping, tempo changes and tiresome tongue-in-cheekiness.

The truth, as ever, probably lies somewhere between these extremes, but for anyone who likes their music bulging with passion and vim, it’s hard not to listen to The Fancy Toys without forming the latter opinion. Take, for example, third song “Flower Child”, which starts with a really quite likable fusion of syncopated rhythm, trumpet fanfare and flamenco guitar before suddenly shifting gears into a truly wretched cod-reggae shuffle, replete with fake whining patios vocals. Just listening to it makes one feel a little grubby. The spectre of the ultimate musical dilettante, Sting, hovers close by. The Fancy Toys should tread carefully. 

www.thefancytoys.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiaLDxH_Sdw

What do you make of The Fancy Toys? Is it the worst name of a band ever? What is a dilettante?

Posted In Single Reviews, Mar 03 2009. Words - Richard