Fire Talk 2020 in Singles & EPs
We’re looking back at our 2020 and although it was exceptionally wild we managed to release an amazing spread of loosies (singles & EPs). Highlights below and stream them all in our New Singles Playlist!
Monteagle is the solo moniker of Brooklyn based (Tennessee native) singer songwriter and composer Justin Giles Wilcox. Known primarily for scoring the critically acclaimed short Documentary Twins Days for the New Yorker and for his production and songwriting for the ambient folk duo Nassau, Monteagle sees Wilcox diving further into the uncharted territory of southern influenced experimental psych folk. “A Colorful Moth” a new EP from Wilcox is steeped in vivid imagery or as Paste Magazine describes “tremulous, bare-souled vocals, which are as haunted and alluring as the caves that riddle the rocky hills of the band’s hometown.”
Justin tells the tale of “A Colorful Moth” better than anyone could...
“A while back I hit a little bit of a rough patch. I had just wrapped up a very emotionally draining project, My freelance work was drying up, My mental health was at an all time low, all this amongst some tumultuous personal issues. In the midst of all of the chaos I took a walk, and ended up sitting at a park right outside of my apt in Brooklyn. While I was just sort of staring blankly, a Butterfly flew up and landed next to me on a bench. Without even blinking I looked at it and thought to myself, “This fucking butterfly, there’s no real beauty in it, it’s just a colorful moth”. I kind of lost it. It’s like my mind became clear. I started-laugh crying and realized how casually destructive I was being and accepted that my situation was mainly my own doing. Afterwards, I felt this huge sense of relief and I immediately started writing these songs.”
This EP is unique in that it was written and recorded sequentially. As in each musical idea begot the next. If you listen there are little pieces of the previous song in the next idea. The lyrics are a mish-mash, a direct stream of consciousness, and recollection of various hallucinogenic trips Justin had been on. There’s something soothing in the way that sound and words dance around each other in a surreal exploration of mortality in relation to reality.
”A Colorful Moth” is a sibling component to an upcoming full length scheduled for early 2021.
EP2 is the second EP from Cindygod the new project from former Gauntlet Hair members Andy Rauworth and Craig Nice out July 10th 2020 on Fire Talk. Stereogum noted 2018’s EP1 filled with “new wave shimmers and hooks… a sort of ramshackle and scrappy charm.” The new EP doubles down on the hollowed-out saccharine sound of Rauworth’s recent work, while retaining glitchy agitated electronics that pierce together the best of dream pop, post-punk and indie nostalgia. Fans of Gauntlet Hair rejoice! Cindygod is an honest creative extension of some of those original ideas, a little darker & sinister around the edges.
Intentionally raw production from Fair combined with a heady interest in the more macabre elements of literature and film (the band cites the work of filmmakers and writers such as Gaspar Noe, Leos Caraz and Irvine Welsh as inspiration) come together to present a vision that skews the lines between post punk and the rave. True to the grit of Northern England, Caulfield’s vocals in her native French contribute an immersive layer of performance art and poetry that bring the spirit of the avant garde to life. Slipping in and out of the abrasive qualities of noise, industrial and techno, their music recalls essential live acts such as Giant Swan and Minimal Violence as well as the unconventional guitar work of Girl Band and Housewives.
With debut single for Fire Talk “Nike of Samothrace,” Caulfield draws on her insistent vocal execution to deliver an experience that feels similarly compelling and cathartic, complemented by razor-sharp, intensive production from Fair and Stewart’s progressive drumming.
"We wanted Nike to be like a blunt instrument, both lyrically and musically. It's purely brute force, gouging away with all dials turned up full, including the gutteral bass line, which was inspired by Thomas Bangalter's score for Irreversible and Hans Zimmer's score for Blade Runner 2049. We're very much driven by rhythm and movement and also wanted to experiment with a Liquid Liquid style percussive breakdown, we love when genres and dynamics are smashed together in an untidy way... we love to butcher things."
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