A Song For Friday: Fake Fruit

No sophomore slump for this Bay Area band!

I’ve been listening to Fake Fruit’s delightful Mucho Mistrust all month and am very excited that it’s now out in the world for all to hear. I was completely unaware of their first album in 2021, which is a good argument for signing with a trustworthy label (Carpark in this case) and hooking up with a great PR firm (Pitch Perfect, in this case). It’s also a good reminder for me to continue developing relationships with those kinds of entities to help ensure I don’t miss anything.

Beginning back in 2018 as a solo project for singer/songwriter/musician Hannah "Ham" D'Amato, she eventually added Alex Post (Guitar, vocals, bass) and Miles MacDiarmid (Drums, percussion) to the group. On Mucho Mistrust the band is a quintet, also including Dylan Allard (Bass guitar, backing vocals) and Judith Horn (Saxophone, backing vocals). They use all those elements with intention and flair, operating within the great post-punk tradition. A huge key to their sound is how D’Amato and Post craft their guitar sounds, exploring differing shades of nervous tension and primal power.

Ponies, from late in the record, is a perfect example, with a jangly guitar weave (Wire influence, check!) at the start, a reflective verse, and then a barreling chorus. MacDiarmd and Allard provide the perfect underpinning, the drums offering both support and propulsion and the bass adding another strand to the weave. D’Amato proves a versatile vocalist as well, moving through modes dreamy and dramatic with ease.

The lyrics also reflect the gamble Fake Fruit is taking here. Working with a record label and a publicist takes a serious commitment. As D’Amato notes in the press materials, “I'm managing us while I'm in between changing diapers in my day job as a nanny. Everyone in the band still believes in it and is motivated to keep wading through the bullshit.” Or poop, as the case may be.

In Ponies, she sings:

If you wanna win big
You go all in
Bet it all, all you got
On the ponies

Mucho Mistrust reflects that all-in philosophy, feeling urgent and deeply personal from the first note to the last. But here’s the thing with this kind of gamble: there are no losers. The band gets to express themselves and plant their flag on 2024’s rock landscape and we the listeners get exciting new sounds to uplift our days. And you can trust me on that.

Let me know your real thoughts on Fake Fruit in the comments.

Catch up with most of the “songs for Friday” here or below.