Wednesday 3 November 2010

Stampede Finale - The Fire And I

The Fire And I are one of the best bands in Scotland right now.  A duo comprising bassist/lead vocalist Gordon Love and lunatic drummer  Hooligan, they've spent the last years developing their profile as a uniquely exciting, energetic live act- with songs that bring together instantly memorable, chanty choruses and violently distorted, bassy rawk.  


Stampede Finale is their debut full-length album, and initially I was pretty concerned by it, as I tend to be when a band at their level of creativity and credibility come out with a proper studio release.  But I probably shouldn't have worried- it's everything I dared hope it would be.


For one thing, the production of the album is spot on.  It has a very "live" sound- the drums are punchy, but roomy enough to sound real and dynamic, and the layering of Love's bass is never overstated- the mix is streamlined and hard-hitting, with natural sounding tempo slides and all kinds of wee tricks added in, that make the whole thing sound genuinely exciting to listen to.  As opposed to click tracked, compressed-to-fuck shite.  It's as much a mix of pop and rock as the songs themselves.


And oh Jesus, how could I forget the songs.  The Fire And I write really good songs.  The album collects together previously released tracks like Dark In The Shade and set opener Revenge, remixed from their initial releases to sit better with the more recent, rawer recordings.  The format is general pretty consistent- distorted, thick bass and fast, hyper drumming- Hooligan, one of my favourite Scottish drummers, shows himself off as a seriously talented technical drummer as well as just a good performer (see the double-bassing awesomeness that is Pick It Up), and Love shows off some surprising vocal chops throughout the record.  Each song is memorable in its own way, with a load of little hooks scattered between the minimal structures- whether it's Mr K's vocal line or Left And Right's mellow, clean bass intervals.  All really well developed songs, there's not really any filler here.  The format admittedly does get quite tired when stretched out over such a relatively extensive tracklist- I guess there's only so much you can do with two instruments, to a point.  But there's a hint of future potential in the synth-poppy Fuck The Cliche, which is as close to outright pop as Stampede Finale gets (minus its nicely radio-unfriendly title).


I'll cut a long story short before I make myself sound like even more of a fanboy than I already do- Stampede Finale is a great fucking record.  Rather than take a brilliant live band and water them down, it shows off exactly what makes them brilliant, and it's so, so satisfying when an underground act's record hits the spot in that way.  Get it, crank it up, and you'll understand exactly what I'm rambling about here.  Class.


In other news, I'll soon be taking a listen to the debut record by Ghosts Of Progress, another one of my favourite Scottish bands.  Can't wait.


You can buy Stampede Finale at The Fire And I's own online store- or at least check out their facebook or myspaceAwesome.