The best art is born out of love, and the best kind of love emerges from long-term camaraderie. FIZZ has channeled the mystical powers of nearly a decade of friendship, growth, discovery, and creative freedom into its debut work, “The Secret To Life.”
FIZZ is a musical ensemble composed of individual artists dodie, Greta Isaac, Martin Luke Brown, and Orla Gartland. The quartet has collaborated on individual projects previously, and after almost a decade of friendship, they’ve fused their talents into FIZZ.
Individually, they all have unique inspirations, aesthetics, and talents, and this project has not only allowed them to display these existing talents but also grow in new ways. This new project explores each person’s strengths in a new context, and each track features a rotating cast of lead vocalists and supporting talent; the group wanted it to be clear that there was no singular lead performer.
FIZZ was formed out of a whirlwind of fantasy, and across two sessions at the creative safe haven Middle Farm Studios in South Devon, England, its 12-track debut album was hatched.
“The Secret To Life” covers many of the scary adult topics faced by 20-somethings, but through a much more eccentric lens than the polished and practical perspectives we’re used to.
“It’s hopefully evident and clear that the real secret to life is our friendship and everything that we’ve experienced together… all the wackiness and loudness but also the quiet intimate moments and laughing about it and crying about it,” dodie shares.
The members joke that maybe the secret to life really is the friends that they made along the way. The four sit side to side on a couch, each taking turns to answer questions and looking to one another to put their thoughts into words.
The members pass inside jokes back and forth and reminisce on their first performances together. Seeing them sitting together on the couch really solidified all of the things that the group had talked about this whole time; Fizz, at its core, is really just a group of friends doing what they love.
“It’s so hilariously simple, it’s like the reason you start making music in the first place… just like having a laugh and expressing yourself and not overthinking how you’re being perceived. Totally back to basics,” Martin expressed.
“It felt like coming back to actually making music in the way that we’ve always loved doing,” Greta echoed.
Even the tracklist screams of youthful whimsy and complex emotions all wrapped up into 40 minutes. Song titles include “Strawberry Jam,” “Rocket League,” and the concluding moment of the album, “The Grand Finale.”
“(There’s) range in the album, sort of bouncing from these really high energy, giddy kind of manic moments to these more tactile, vulnerable ones” Greta explained. “That’s what 10 years of friendship is… celebrating the full spectrum of life, the good and the bad.”
The band’s debut track, “High in Brighton,” was the first song written at Middle Farm, and it felt fitting to release it first. This track also features all four members in rotation as vocalists.
“We really wanted it to be clear that the band is a collective with no front person, that’s always shifting and changing and being passed around,” Orla said.
Of the tracks on the completed album, my favorite is by far “Strawberry Jam.” Musically, it features some complex harmonies and a masterfully composed closing. Lyrically, it contains references to several of the other tracks on the album, and it feels like a representative song that covers many of the concepts explored across the record.
The creative freedom and autonomy referenced throughout the project were passed on to FIZZ’s creative team as well. Photographer JP Bonito was given a large degree of control over the direction of the visuals for the album, the stylists were encouraged to push boundaries and break norms at every step, and their work certainly paid off. The visuals supporting this release echo the themes of the album, and I’ve appreciated the outlandish and costumed outfits that have appeared out of the era.
FIZZ is embarking on a tour around the United Kingdom in February and is currently performing the album live on a smaller-scale record store tour. While there are no talks of international touring at this time, if US dates are released, I’m positive that I will be there.
You can listen to FIZZ’s debut album “The Secret To Life” here, and learn more or purchase physical copies of the album here.
