Tales To Tell

Mike Barrett is an artist, scientist and philosopher. Oh, yeah, and he’s also a musician.

A third-year student at the prestigious Chelsea College of Art & Design, he is a polymath with a slightly surreal take on songwriting – and performing. How different is apparent as soon as the band come on stage – if not before.

For a start, there is no drummer. Or rather, there are two: Mike – who is also singer and keyboardist, and James Howard – who is otherwise employed as a singing guitarist.

The rest of the four-piece is made up of Mike’s guitarist brother Nick, and bassist Dan Djan.

“Our set-up is a bit different from the usual arrangement,” says Mike, at home in Whitechapel, East London, during a lull in what has become a serious autumn of touring.

“We don’t have a drummer; instead two of us drum while standing up, playing our own instruments and singing. All the beat comes from our drums – which makes it minimal and stripped back. But people enjoy the fact it is more visualised and in-your-face – and not just hidden away at the back.”

The London lads (though Dan, being German is a newcomer to the capital) started making waves least year, though all were involved in other projects before being spotted in their present form. And they would agree that this has certainly been their year – already earning support slots for Warpaint and, this month, former Mercury Music Prize winners Klaxons.

It also sees the release of their second single Big Things – which could be seen as a sign of where they are headed. Though they’d be way too modest – and cool – to admit that.

“We started doing this a long time ago,” says Mike, though being aged only 23, his definition of ‘long’ has to be open to interpretation.

“We have had various line-up changes but since getting Dan a year-and-a-half ago it has all started to come together.

“For a band it’s important to have a line-up you feel settled with – and we didn’t have that for a while – just people helping out...including a drum machine.”

The obvious question would be what do they sound like? That’s a tough one to answer.

“If this age is defined by anything, then it is by those things which went before,” he says after a suitable pause for thought.

“We are shaped by multiple influences, not just by one. Though I suppose ‘pop’ would be the best way to describe it,” he concedes.

But it is Fiction’s attention to detail which makes them so compelling. Forget chuck-away songs about girlfriends and getting wrecked with your mates; that would be way too easy. And boring.

Instead Mike, a conceptual artist, Nick, an illustrator, James, a writer, and Dan, a barman who the rest of the band describe as a “professional schmoozer”, paint musical pictures out of tiny ideas and loose concepts.

“We tend not to write about things in a photo-realistic sense,” Mike explains. “There’s a surreal thing going on in our lyrics – with things often described from a child’s point of view.

“We don’t over-saturate things in overblown language. It’s all about simple words and complex ideas. People think overblown language conveys more emotion, but we think emotions come across better when they are related to simple objects.”

Like cats (Debut single Curiosity was about a scientific experiment on a cat in a box) or, er... tropical birds. “By talking about something like, say, parakeets, you can talk about other things,” he explains patiently, picking up on my growing confusion.

“It’s better than just saying ‘this song is about love or loneliness’. Science is also a strong influence on our work.”

The band make their first visit to Oxford on Saturday as guests of the Yoof night at The Cellar, which also features sets by Sissy & the Blisters and Jonquil frontman Hugo Manuel’s new side project, Chad Valley.

The night also serves as a taster for Fiction’s set in support of Klaxons at the city’s O2 Academy on November 18.

“It is great to be part of a big tour,” says Mike. “It’s so important to get the exposure and the experience. The trip with Warpaint was amazing; we’d never been on the road and played so many gigs in a row before. There’s also an element of mentoring; the idea of following a band which has already taken that next step, and learning from them.”

They are also looking forward to sharing their love of science. So does he have a favourite scientist at the moment?

“Yes,” he says excitedly. “This week it’s the mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot. He gave birth to fractal geometry, which fascinates me.

“Fractals (ever-decreasing repeated patterns, born of chaos theory) are all around us and show how the small things connect with the large.

“His work is a visualisation of the infinite; it is important and beautiful – and it is relevant to everything we do.”

* Fiction play Yoof, at The Cellar, Frewin Court, on Saturday, with Sissy & The Blisters and Chad Valley. The fun goes from 9pm-3am. Tickets are £5 on the door.