100 Greatest Songs of the 20’s So Far #40 Fat Dog – Peace Song

Released: 2024

There’s something about bands formed during the pandemic. Whereas in the old world you’d meet like minded souls, go to gigs together, rehearse, write songs, play some gigs to test them out and then probably split up, being able to do nothing flexed minds into understanding possibility: closed doors somehow meant more open minds.

Fat Dog are proof of this little evidenced theory. A quintet from South London, front man Joe Love first began creating ideas in his bedroom, drawing on influences as diverse as punk, the traditional Jewish folk music klezmer and the soundtrack to the game Serious Sam 2. Debuting with the seven minute track King of The Slugs in 2023, it’s a sound that’s evolved over time into something fellow pooch Chris Hughes has labelled prosaically “Rabbis on ecstasy”.

Following on from their debut album Woof, Peace Song tracked itself directly back to the 80’s, its bouncy synth pop tail wagging happily whilst Love himself nosed into his more apocalyptic philosophical leanings. Sweetness and gristle; this was the stuff of musicians who’d seen ideas come out of the walls in the form of giant rotties, waiting patiently for the moment when they’d be let off their leads for good.