Fish in a Birdcage - "Mentors"
Rule #129 - final review of 2024
My last review of 2024 has finally arrived…as I’m writing this a week into January. This is review #129 for the year; would have been an even 130 if I hadn’t had to DQ Shireen.1
I also have to note the absolute audacity of Fish in a Birdcage of selecting DECEMBER 20TH as their release date. If I hadn’t already had a queue a mile long, I might have been outraged.
But I was really excited and optimistic for this album. I couldn’t miss it. See, Fish in a Birdcage (henceforth, “FiaB”) is one of those acts that could, at any given moment, create MAGIC. Out of nowhere. And you need look absolutely no further than the thirstiest song of the year: “Rule 34”.
Now, you have to understand that FiaB has a specific naming gimmick for their song titles: they’re sequentially-numbered rules with subtitles (e.g. “Rule #1 - Magic”, “Rule #27 - Drunk on Pride”, etc). “Rule #34” is the exception to the rule. It needs no subtitle. If you aren’t familiar with Rule 34, then you haven’t been on the internet for very long and may need parental consent to listen to the song linked above.
Naturally, “Rule 34” blew up. It was impossible not to hear snippets at some point — especially on BookTok. IYKYK.
But it wasn’t just the subject matter that made it a hit — it was FiaB firing on all cylinders. It was all of the skill and excellence that makes this act noteworthy distilled into fine wine — that said wine was also a sonic aphrodisiac is circumstantial.
FiaB is a unique project — the brainchild of Dustan Townsend, who is also the act’s sole member, according to the limited information I’ve found on them. The act is self-described as “modern Renaissance, Electronica to Folk strings”. Townsend’s chosen instrument is the cello, and it is typically heard very front-and-center in the mix.
It’s basically a quirky, moody, low-key project in the vein of other neoclassical acts like Apocalyptica, with their Metal focus, or the reimagined pop songs which feature in the Bridgerton soundtrack. And it’s actually more successful than you might imagine, given how little information there seems to be about the project out there on Google. They have 1.3 million listeners on Spotify, but no Wikipedia page. By comparison, one of the most influential Symphonic Metal acts, Within Temptation, has 1.9 million. 2024 has been a breakout year for FiaB, I think; their monthly listener count a year ago, before “Rule #34”, would have been much lower. Mentors just needs to keep the audience’s attention.
Mentors is only FiaB’s fourth album; their first emerged in 2016. I did also review their third LP, Man-O-War, in 2022, and rated it Yellow. Largely due to inconsistency issues. So coming into this album, I had two specific hopes — for the consistency to be improved, and for “Rule #34” to set the standard.
Now, I’ll remind you, I don’t, typically, listen to lead singles. I want to go into an album uncolored, as much as possible. But that song was unavoidable. So I hadn’t gone out of my way to listen to it, and I certainly didn’t know the title or rule number — but I did come into Mentors with the expectation that this wildly popular and catchy single I’ve been hearing bits of all year should be on it.
And it never played. I had to go find it after to figure out what number it was. After having done the research, it makes sense that “34” would be a one-off special. At the same time, not including it feels like a huge disappointment.
Mentors picks up with “Rule #35 - Microphone”, and the album starts off with decent momentum. Rules “35” and “36” are both competent and catchy; “37” is good, and then “38” hits hard, lyrically, digging at the common sentiment that most world leaders are too old these days, with ideas firmly stuck in the past. The lyrics for “40” also hit hard, but on a more personal level:
Maybe someday you'll forgive me
For destroying myself, while harbouring pain
Self-sabotage is truly an art form
That I've mastered at this stage
Yet I'd like to bring forth my wеakness
To show it in full, let's give it a namе
We could hold fast and be strong together
Vulnerable and brave
But “40” is also criminally slow, its delivery halting on both the lyrical and instrumental fronts, not coming together until the song is basically over with the lyrical conclusion quoted above.
Several songs have repetition issues — some of these are technically okay, but have a shorter runtime so the lyrics feel more compacted by the lack of breaks within the songs, but then you have “#45 - Rooftop Jam”, in which verse 2 is identical to verse 1, so it’s just the same thing all over again, and “#36 - Long Way From Home” is a catchy tune that almost becomes unbearable due to repetition.
Other songs, such as “#44 - Badger” and, to a lesser extent, #s “42” and “46” feel rhythmically repetitive. We get interesting syncopations that might otherwise be the foundation of great hooks, but then they’re repeated on every line of every verse, with rare exception.
So, ultimately, I’m left with an album where FiaB has done everything right: the lyrics are strong, the rhythms are interesting, the melodies are catchy, and the instrumentation and vocals layer in intricate and compelling ways…but rarely all at once.
Don’t get me wrong — most of the songs here are genuinely good. And all of them have standout moments. Once I was able to move past my initial disappointment (captured above), there was a lot to like on this album. I just expected more.
I cannot deny Townsend’s talent, and I think he’s truly a visionary who will ultimately find ways to push our understanding and appreciation of music to new levels. And I feel like he’s right on the cusp. The next FiaB album might leave a crater; or it might be more of the same.
Even if it’s the latter, this is an act worth checking out. He’s drawn in over a million regular listeners already, and it’s not a fluke. Mentors demonstrates his skills well; I just feel it also shows a few areas that need improving.
Rating: Green
I discussed the reasons for this in the final section of my initial 2025 Release Radar post.