Song Of The Day: The Fibs — “No Collection”

The Fibs’ New Single For Dreamy Life Records’ Group Therapy Vol. 5 Is A Nightmare Vision Of Missed Connections In A Bad Part of Town.

Welcome to Song of the Day, where we hip you to all the new local releases you should be caring about. By highlighting one new North Texas-sprung tune every week day, our hope is that you’ll find something new to love about the rich and abundant DFW music scene five days a week.

The Fibs – “No  Collection”
RIYL: Darkwave, Garage-gaze.
What Else You Should Know: Have you ever had one of those nights that just didn’t feel right from the moment you left the house? You get in the car, turn the engine on and all of a sudden you have this overwhelming feeling of dread about the night to come.

That is the nightmare that comes to life in Fort Worth garage-gazers The Fibs’ new single “No Collection”, from Dreamy Life Records’ Group Therapy Vol. 5 compilation.

Written with a sense of alienation and seduction akin to Jay McInerny’s 1984 novel Bright Lights, Big City, “No Collection” finds you walking the shadows of an unloving city, looking for some kind of connection. This is a town filled with whispered secrets that escape your ear, and where everything uplifting is elusive.

Your car breaks down in a bad part of town and there’s nothing you can do but keep walking like you have somewhere to be, but really, you’re going nowhere. Even after you stumble into a bar and someone buys you a drink, something is still missing — this is not where you belong.

Adding to the sense of paranoia is the song’s unsettling structure, where the music grows evermore chaotic in its layering of frantic guitars while singer Preston Newberry’s voice becomes more worried and erratic. Even the traditional songwriting structure is distorted. Without a recognizable music pattern to fall back on, the lyrics feel all the more unsettling.

There really is no resolution in a song like this, and that really seems to be the point. “No Collection” is a portrait, not a message.

However, just like those nights spent walking along the edge of ordered society, there is something enticing about the darkness of “No Collection” that will keep you coming back.

Cover photo by Amy Tate.