Look, we all know that Bon Iver is a reclusive genius (although the dodgy vocoder-enhanced tune ‘Woods’ currently adorning his myspace might convince otherwise) and Fleet Foxes harmonies are ‘otherworldly’. However if, like me, you would rather have someone slap you in the face with a wet fish and call you Rita than read another end-of-year best album poll lauding Bon Iver and fawning over Fleet Foxes then perhaps point your mouse in the direction of La Blogotheque’s recommendation for album of 2008 and give Forest Fire a listen.
Their debut album, Survival, was released free exclusively on music site The Catbirdseat, it’s lack of physical presence in record stores resulting in it passing largely under the radar of the hype machine. There were a limited number of CDs available to purchase but they flew out like pvc leggings out of Pennys on O’Connell Street. The album has that really lovely unpolished feel to it owing to multiple vocalists and discordant, misplaced instruments throughout. This could be due to the fact that Forest Fire’s members hail from different American states, New York and Oregon, giving way to an amalgamation of musical influences and a necessity to record when the opportunity presents itself. Mark Thresher of the band explains, “Not all the members of Forest Fire live on the same coastline, so when certain friends roll through town, things happen pretty quickly.”
It could be any of these things, or it could be the fact that they’re a band that have the balls to go against the grain of the standardised format that modern music has largely become. They kind of remind me of the Cold War Kids in that regard, refusing to slot into whatever bullshit genre the NME and co. have come up with to describe anything that sounds in any way ‘out of the ordinary’… is anyone else ready to hunt down the bastard who came up with concept of ‘lo-fi’?Anyway, that’s wandering off course a little. The album is called Survival and it’s FREE so download it (for free) HERE.
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