The Geeks Were Right - The Faint

Omaha five piece The Faint return after a four year absence with new single “The Geeks Were Right”, taken from parent album Fasciinatiion. The song begins with angular guitars, before building in a fat synth bassline and vocodered vocals. It certainly ticks all the boxes of a guaranteed floor filler at your local indie disco, but it is let down by poor attention to structure and some genuinely lumpen musical segues featuring hilariously inappropriate arpeggiated synths.
Todd Fink claims the lyrics were inspired by Futurism; certainly lyrically The Faint has always shown the future as present past. The phrase “The geeks were right” in itself appears to be a separatist claim of the underdog, fighting the corner of those with “thin white legs” and initially the lyrics appear to be celebratory, revelling in the conquest of the “eggheads”, but further inspection reveals that they are striking a warning note, decrying the need to “Watch what the humans ruin with machines”. Like the music backing these nebulous sentiments, it promises much but says little. Instead of celebrating the future that they have seen, they hark back to a time pre-machine while Futurism espouses the triumph of technology over nature.
When first they arrived in our consciousness in the late 90s they heralded a new musical genre, electroclash. Unfortunately for The Faint upon returning they’ve found that there are new, more relevant bands occupying their place. They have become a parody of themselves, lacking energy and new ideas. Their second album Danse Macabre promised much, but having returned to the fray in 2008 it appears they have little to add to their own canon let alone the genre they work in.

This article was originally produced for http://www.clickmusic.com/. To read the music review of The Geeks Were Right by The Faint on the site, please click on the article title.