BY THE FIRESIDE

Music:

Member Since: 11/14/2005
Band Website: by-the-fireside.com
Band Members: Daniel Lea: Vocals, Guitar and other instruments The Band: Pedro Vitor: Bass, Backing Vocals Drew Manley: Drums, Backing Vocals, Glockenspiel Jeanette Little: Violin, Keyboards, Sampler Matt Waters: Guitar, Keyboards, Sampler, Backing Vocals. On the Album: Matt Cousins: Co Producer, Vocals, Guitars, Organ, Drums Paul Cook: Drums Drew Manley: Drums Ebe Oke: Vocals Al Watts: Guitars, Mellotron, Keyboard Jeanette Little: Violin, Piano
Influences: The Circus, The Hartford Circus Fire, Clowns, Frank Stanford, Walt Whitman, Wallace Stevens, Robert Frost, Captain Beefheart, The Beatles, Daniel Johnston, Nick Drake, Anticon, Arvo Part, Neu!, Can, Debussy, Cluster, Earth, Stars of the Lid, Terrence Malick, Buster Keaton, Fellini, David Lynch, Night of The Hunter, In Cold Blood, Nightmare Alley, Moonrise, Out of the Past, Detour, Johnny Guitar, Paris Texas, Strozek, Spirit of the Beehive, Freaks, Kiss me Deadly, Gummo, Out of the Blue, Sunrise, Greed, Badlands, Days of Heaven, Cockfighter, 8andahalf, Night and the City, Henry Darger, C.T Mcklusky
Sounds Like: By The Fireside The Great Hartford Fire by: Ed Butler Mon:19-Nov-07 Label: Rogue Records Year: 2007WB rating79 out of 100ReviewThere’s something about artists who, although performing solo, decide to operate under a moniker which would suggest they are, in fact, a band. Iron & Wine, Gotye, Bright Eyes and LCD Soundsystem all do it. It seems to lend a certain credibility, puts them in a league of distinguished and dignified arteests who are above selling out their creation and, perhaps, very soul in pursuit of the almighty dollar. Hell, even Jay Kay resists the temptation to operate under his own (assumed) name, not that it seems to help him. It is into this particular milieu that we can now enter young Brit Daniel Lea, performing under his own musical pseudonym of By the Fireside, and his wonderful debut long-player The Great Hartford Fire.Already it’s becoming clear that fire is of some relevance to Lea, and when tracks such as ‘Through the Fire’ and the title track appear on the sleeve, the decision to release a debut concept album is impressive in its audacity. That the concept itself is based on a fire that occurred in a circus in 1944 that claimed around 168 lives – including the man who claimed to have lit the fire in a delusional fit –  makes it all the more striking.Thankfully, Lea appears to be talented enough to back up such a bold vision with some truly exciting music. Stylistically, The Great Hartford Fire is a mish-mash of different genres, orchestral flourishes of flute and glockenspiel coexisting with homemade samples, the occasional filthily distorted guitar and his own, very folksy vocal mannerisms to create a genuinely unique sound, such as on ‘Through the Fire’, where a quite lovely string section gives way to a melodic chorus that shouldn’t work, but does.Lea’s breathy voice is all over this album, giving it the feeling of a moderately less prosaic incarnation of fellow Englishmen The Earlies, reminiscent of singer John Mark Lapham on less Prozac. However, TGHF is anything but sleep-inducing. Driven along by simple, straightforward rhythms, Lea’s songs are built around a distinctive wall of sound, his breathy vocals often communing in multiple (and occasionally gorgeous) harmonies.Perhaps the most enchanting thing about this album, though, is its ability to make sharp left hand turns when they’re least expected – weaving its way back to where it began, like delinquent teenagers. On the magnificent ‘Hymns for Hurricanes’, Lea proves he is not averse to the occasional detour, introducing a brief piano coda that vanishes as fast as it appeared, only to be resurrected two minutes later in the song, at just the right time, like a long-expected guest.Opening track ‘Her Spirit Knows’ begins slowly, nothing like the circus that ostensibly the album’s proceedings are centred on, but slowly builds to a gentle catharsis, propelled forward by mournful strings seemingly weeping for lives yet to be lost. Minutes later, on ‘Join the Circus’, a George Harrison-esque guitar kicks in from nowhere, yet is in exactly the right place, floating as it were over Ringo-style drumming and Lennon-inspired flutes, but somehow doesn’t sound a great deal like anything The Beatles ever did.The record closes with the titular track, which begins with a music-box melody vaguely evoking memories of ‘No Surprises’, before digressing slightly into something far more reminiscent of Mercury Rev, Lea’s voice lifting into the higher register, consciously bringing to mind the children whose death seems to have inspired much of the album. When, at about two minutes, his voice drops again channelling the adult in himself, unwilling to allow children to confront such horrid realities. Yet.While Lea’s exhalations can become tiresome at times, they are easily mitigated by the gentle melodies he constructs, and the easy drama and pathos that the lush instrumentation brings to mind.Never mind that he chooses not to operate under his own name: if he’s doing it to create a veneer of integrity around his music, he’s creating a sound that is worthy of the conceit. The Great Hartford Fire is that rare beast – a debut album which is not afraid to take itself seriously, yet never slips into self-consciousness, and as a result, is one of the freshest and most welcome introductions of 2008.
Record Label: Rogue Records (Inertia) Australia
Type of Label: Indie