Forest Fire - Survival

Brooklyn’s four-piece Forest Fire are clearly an odd bunch and have eclectic musical tastes. 'Survival' sounds like the lo-fi home recordings of Daniel Johnston if he’d developed a punk attitude and been raised on a musical diet of folk. Which sounds like an intriguing recipe. And 'Survival' is just that. All nine songs are all done and dusted within 27 minutes which means it is short, punchy and to the point. There’s no excess baggage carried here. In the best tradition of lo-fi recordings it’s basic, stripped down and no nonsense. It’s all rough and ready but still has charm and quirky individuality. The quartet hammer away at their instruments aiming for a song’s feel rather trying for musical dexterity. At times it seems the instruments are barely in tune let alone harmonising. But there is more going on here than at first it seems. 'Through My Gloves' possibly hints at things to come and sees the band at their most accomplished and polished with main man Mark Thresher sounding like many a troubled troubadour of days gone by. And 'Promise' gets into a drone rock groove that any proto-punk garage band would have been proud of – and adds a splash of Don Cherry-esque wailing sax on top. So far so good but its lo fi credentials also give 'Survival' a ramshackle, haphazard feel making Bobby Gillespie’s drumming in the Jesus and Mary Chain look positively professional and dextrous. With the album recorded over an eight month period and studio time done on an ad hoc basis a lot of the album feels not only rough and ready but also spontaneous as if the band hardly knew the songs before recording them and the title track sounds more like a studio jam than a fully formed song. Forest Fire manages to pull off 'Survival' by its force of charm and naivety and there is lots to be admired in that ‘have a go’ attitude but at times it’s just downright sloppy and a mess and can grate at times, when it works though Forest Fire have a lot to offer.