Album Review: Bite Me

Finally, there is a children’s album that you can chomp into with glee, fleaBITE are the band and Bite Me is the album, and it’s full of surprises, where every song is like a bursting musical festival.

As a father of two young ones I have had many hours listening to albums full of standard nursery rhyming fair that after a couple of repeats would start to affect your sanity. But Bite Me just charms you with enlightening tunes full of bouncy brassy melodies and vocal chorus delights.

Many songs are a real Kiwi treat with familiar subjects that connect to life in NZ, with Kiwi accents and animal sounds that make it sound like home. The album is a delight throughout, where the songs constantly amusing content is always delivered with an upbeat and vibrant musical energy.

Each song has its own style and theme, in the track Virus they somehow make a sharing a virus sound like fun! The retro keyboard disco sound of Dingo Bingo will make you groove involuntarily. While the gooey sound of Slug will have your young one laughing and squirming in equal measures, as will the rowdy singing chicken in Nice & Nasty

Liver Lover is an expressive lyrical treat that gets you swaying with its unique Country meets Greek Sea Shanty sound. Finishing with the wonderful Possibly Papakura with its traditional sound, it feels like it could have been sung in the suburbs for generations, such is its tuneful melody and beautiful island ukulele guitar strums.

Overall I give it 5 out of 5 stars for its genre, as it will never grow weary, the fun subject matter will entertain over and over again, while the brave musical arrangements and boisterous singing will also provide consistent delight.