Fundamentally Sound
Welcome to My Parents' House - Single (2024)
Review By Dan Fister
June 28, 2024
Ordering Information
Welcome to My Parents' House is available on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music.
As a long-time fan of Fundamentally Sound, I'm always thrilled to see another song in my queue for me to review. Like the symbolic box of chocolates, you never know what you'll get with each new release. The group's latest single, a cover of the comedy duo Ninja Sex Party's explicit Welcome to My Parents' House, lives up to its hilarious, campy promise and then some.
In a word, the arrangement for this song slaps. It's not easy to transfer funk band sounds to group singing, but Grant Schwab delivers with a chart designed with comedic precision, careful attention on how to make the group sound excellent without distracting from the soloist's narrative, and a groove to which you can't help but move — shout out to vocal percussionist Markus Priede and the bass section for throwing it down. Schwab pulls double-duty as soloist and knocks it out of the park comedically and sonically.
You'll want to listen to the song multiple times just to catch all the often-brief sounds added to the mix in between lyrics; my favorites are "woof", "do you have any more pizza rolls?", and a very loud knock that I think is real every time. We have Ed Boyer, Niko Tutland, and Dave Sperandio to thank for the pristine production that allows us to hear each faux guitar lick and quick joke.
On top of a pitch-perfect comedic track, the group also produced a music video for this release that lives up to any produced by Lonely Island or Bo Burnham. The video features Blaise Russo as the soloist and lead actor, replacing Schwab. I won't spoil any of the jokes or gags, but I will say that Russo brings exactly the zany energy necessary for this video, and the group members don't hold back in their roles either.
In both music and video, Fundamentally Sound continues to give a masterclass in contemporary a cappella comedy with Welcome to My Parents' House. Any group that wishes to bring camp and wit to their performances should take copious notes in between bouts of laughter.