Ponderings on new album ‘Freddie’s Extra Teeth’

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Freddie’s Extra Teeth — it’s the kind of title that intrigues the mind solely because it’s so quirky. According to the album descriptions, Freddie is referring to Freddie Mercury, who “never had his extra teeth removed because he was afraid of losing his ability to sing high notes”. Once you interpret the title (and perhaps chuckle to yourself at Mercury’s bizarre excuse), it infiltrates your mind and sticks to it like a pesky sibling whining for five minutes of play.

The songs featured are just as unique; some of the titles are so unexpectedly ridiculous that they ensue more chuckling (“A Goat Named Costard” had been my final trigger). However, the melodies are quite repetitious after a while — enough to make you wonder if you were listening to the same song 10 times in a row.

It really does help if you focus on the words; however, I do warn you that a part of the lyrics may be difficult to interpret. For instance, in the first song titled “The End of the World”, the third stanza reads, “who will save me from Schweddy Balls ice cream / Shield my eyes from belly buttons on TV / Women wearing pants and standing in the voting booth / People must suffer based on your distorted truth”. Is the narrator (or perhaps, in this case, the composer) making a statement about women’s suffrage? If so, is this composer referring to “women standing in the voting booth” as bane for other people?

Long story short, I rated this album as ‘neutral’. While Indie-Rock isn’t the genre I enjoy on a daily basis, it was a refreshing experience, diving into a new genre and pondering over what the lyrics were trying to say.