by Frank Gualtier -- 07/14/06
Photo by Jena C.
With the recently released self titled debut EP The Fire and Reason kick a beat you can dance to, metal it up like Metallica and have a soft spot for celebrating dark grooves.Fronted by the tantalizing voice of Bella Saona TFaR is a group of four highly talented individuals who's combined prowess yields a well oiled sound machine that is progressively part heavy metal, part goth and a little bit euro dance. This inherently implies such flavors as post-punk and electronica.
I had already seen their video for the song Go and was impressed but when I got ahold of the EP and played it I found that they are not simply one hit dazzlers. The impetus of what I first found carries through.
Pleased To Meat You -- Guts of the Beast
The composite breaks down like this [Left to Right]:
Photo by Jena C.
Thomas Buchmueller -- Bass [Bottom]
Steve Narvaez -- Guitar
Bella Saona -- Vocals
Chris Bielfeldt -- Drums
Do You Hear What I Hear -- The Voice
Bella's singing reminds me of a bird as it darts in and around the trees in a forest not once hitting a single branch on the way. She often attacks notes just a few pennies low and emphasizes the flat 'tween's in downward glissandi. It's a style that adds to the dark TFaR atmosphere and gives her a distinct flavor that is somewhere between punk and goth. Perhaps better stated as a stylized punk flair. As well she tends to sing away from any backing melody or harmonic roots. I don't want to get too heavy on the music theory but it's like running blind. If you can do it flawlessly it's beautiful. If not it's bloody. Bella doesn't have a scratch on her. Watch her face when she sings and you'll witness it visually as she shows the grace and control of someone like Joan Osborne with expressions that echo the emotions of the song and not expressions that echo the challenge of singing the song. The closest voice comparison I've heard is to Gwen Stefani. Barely close to Bella's unique voice but it gets you in the neighborhood.
Beat It -- The Rhythm
In the drums can be heard a fair amount of tom rolling that reminds me of the style of Cheap Trick's Bun E. Carlos. The rhythmic pulse seems at times like a genre progression forward from Metallica's Enter Sandman. Combined with a bass that tracks it, frills included, it is itself something of an evolutionary class bred from creatures like Concrete Blonde's Bloodletting. These guys pump a rock solid and clean beat you can feel in your bones.
Careful With That Axe Eugene -- The Guitar
The guitar work is impressive for many reasons. One is that you hear several types of sound. Crunching, clicking, power chords et al. Another is the use of obviously selective equipment and overdrive which leads to flavors of distortion that completely kick your ass while retaining a crisp and clean demeanor with each catchy hook and jabbed out riff. In tandem with the rhythm section just mentioned and some electronic aspects a solid foundry is framed for each song.
All Together Now -- The Sound
They have an interesting A B A thematic style of alternating between lush, yet always clean and tight, sonic assault and anthemic beat with sustain suspended hollows which gives an interesting intermission kind of effect. It's also highly anticipatory as you can feel the strength of the beat carry on as if to say "take a breath -- you are going to need it". Fantastic and dramatic -- one of many classic anthem styles and TFaR have it mastered.
They also remind me just a tiny bit of INXS but it's difficult to articulate the exact reason. Given that they are progressive fusion it's no surprise. That is to say that they are a composite of many genre aggregates that they have progressed into their own style. This can be demonstrated by consciously picking out the electronica components and surprising yourself that they were even there because they blend so well into the overall feel. Yes that was a synth thopping out a beat... Smooth integration.
What Are Words For -- The Song & Lyric
The lyric aspects of the songs are often dark and always either poetic as in Go with "I know you'll be fine making good on all those promises we now leave behind" or in the spirit of fun such as Faux Party's "Give me the sound, Give me the beat -- I want to see NYC dancing on the street". For those who love culture there's the song Sin Drogas entirely in Spanish.
Whip It Good -- Live Performance
My personal TFaR favorite is the song Go for which they have a live performance video of on their MySpace page.
TFaR performing Go live on June 25, 2006 in Manhattan, New York.
Well written and superbly performed the music of The Fire and Reason is suited for concert, dance and just plain old fashioned listening pleasure.
Links for The Fire and Reason:
1 comment:
this is a great ep. really enjoyed each song. love Bella's vocals and the bands unique sound.
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