The Best Thing I Heard This Week: Firehorse

In all aspects of life--music, movies, sports--the idea of the “next” great thing is thrown around quite indelicately. The “next” Michael Jordan, the “next” Marilyn Monroe, the “next” Radiohead. Tragically, these comparisons usually fall far short because the comparison is made for aesthetic but not qualitative reasons. [1. The other obvious reason, now that I'm editing, is because these things are among the greatest of their time, unique and irreplaceable. There may be another player as good as Michael Jordan someday, and there are certainly bands as talented as Radiohead, but no one could ever perfectly emulate them, at least enough to make us forget.] The next Michael Jordan is anointed because he is tall, bald, and black. The next Marilyn Monroe because she is cute and blonde, and the next Radiohead because a bunch of young white men make music that isn't a 3 chord romp. The reality is that there will be no "next," despite the ESPN Magazine feature. But damn, Firehorse (singer/songwriter Leah Seigel, Steve Elliot on guitar, Tim Luntzel on bass, and Brian Wolfe with the percussion) might give the Radiohead comparison a run for its money. Of course, they'll probably never get there. But the promise that this album carries and the energy it exudes make And So They Ran Faster... the best thing I heard this week.



One of the striking things about And So They Ran Faster... is its sonic range. Much like Radiohead, Siegel and her band move fluidly between pop/rock and more dramatic and theatrical musical moments. Radiohead really comes through in the opening track, "She's a River." Elliot's Siegel's (I stand corrected) pogo-stick guitars on the track stand out, as she sings what sounds like an autobiographical introspection to begin the album: "she's as careless as a river / slowly carving through the ground / only rocks and roots to guide her / til she beats against the dam / don't fight / don't fight what you're made for." After the meditation, Siegel stops fighting what's she made for, and continues with the rest of the record.



The single, "Our Hearts," mines a trope that has been used before, but has at least the courtesy to do it well. Firehorse do not rush through the song, which is nice because they really let the shimmering guitars on the chorus ring through to great effect. In a way, it's a strange choice for a single because of the (lack of) pace. However, it's as feel-good of a moment as you'll get here, as Siegel sings: "be gentle with us / and we'll find our way in the end / our hearts are on fire / and hope is all we know / our hearts are on fire / and it burns in our bones / our hearts are on fire."



Elsewhere, Siegel knowingly apes Jeff Buckley on "If You Don't Want to be Alone." And while it's no "Hallelujah" or "Lilac Wine," it's a pretty good facsimile, and a damn good song. I think, however, that "My Left Eye" is my favorite slower track on the record, mostly as it displays more imagination and ingenuity. Over an anachronistic soundtrack to a sad black and white cartoon, Siegel hoarsely whispers a bard's tale of a left eye that was lost, gets drunk on Coney Island, and falls into the ocean, while its original owner struggles to decide between filling the hole with a dried rosebud or a marble. Awesome.



My personal favorite is "Machete Gang Holiday." I was hooked from the opening lines: "Step outside / dodge the muggers and the stabbers like land mines / the critics' eyes / the dive-bombing drunks / they've been drinking themselves blind / they're all illusions made of sand / we will fear no man / not even the machete gangs!" This track has the most, I don't know, sing-along potential, I guess, of any track here. It's delightfully contrasted between the darkly humorous lyrics and the soaring instrumentation (including Siegel's voice, which is at its most luminous here). Firehorse's bio, which talks mostly of Siegel, is painful to read. It's one thing to talk about your music. It's another to (have your agent?) compare yourself to Jeff Buckly, P.J. Harvey, and Florence and the Machine. With all the name-checking going on (also includes Prince, Nick Drake, the Velvet Underground, Joni Mitchell, and Led Zeppelin!), it's tragic to snub Radiohead here. Still, while Firehorse ain't the next Radiohead, they're still a damn good band with one of the better records I've heard this year, and "Machete Gang Holiday" is the highlight of the record.