Fir Cone Children are back and this time it's them versus The Real World, this ongoing project from Alexander Donat to make music for his children gets deeper into the teenage malaise and the kids desire to start going to gigs and stealing dad's beer, hopefully his kids still feel attached and haven't started rebelling, listening to classical music and hanging out in schlager bars just yet.
The album buzzes into life with St Vincent that marries buzzing guitars to clattering drums and searing synths that all go in and out of time, for this tale of taking the children to their very first rock show St Vincent and all the excitement that entails, smiling happy faces, no tears before bedtime, just the joy of seeing their heroines, sounds more fun than my first gig seeing 10CC that's for certain.
Madhu and they are playing the jester with silly party hats on, urgent onrushing guitars splattering all over the speakers, with a dad admonishing his kids for wearing jackets the wrong way round etc, like a proper old geezer, bemused by kids of today, and let's face it this old git is always bemused by the kids of today.
Enhype! Is super hyped-up droning synths smashing your face, believing all the things essential to the youth of today's world. Vampire Queen allows every generation to discover their own Vampire Queens; This has a haunted house feel, especially the chanting to summon up the Halloween monster once more.
Skurugata sounds like some Japanese anime monster music, everything threatens to fall apart to this intense sound. Severe Weather Warning the storms are coming and things are almost calm, if they are lucky, they will avoid the worst ravages, bunkered up inside warm and secure, just listen to dad this one time and don't go chasing tornadoes.
The Mind (Level 12) begs the question how many levels do you need to reach, to win a game of The Mind while distributing pancakes to all your classmates, making any kids who can't make it past Level 6 feel like total losers.
Cobra Scam has them in the supermarket trying to convince everyone to sell them that picture of a cobra, that's on the side of that bottle, they just like the picture, they don't want the beer honest, they don't, while this flies off in several direction, including feeling like the clerk is overcharging them for that Cobra after all.
(Hang In There) My Moon is not about dodgy photos on insta, this is slowed down to a dreamgaze pace that is begging to be allowed to show its urges to run away and get away from all the fear and dread, while pitch shifting the music to be very downtempo, just don't give up.
Time To Ask probably didn't ask Sham 69 before reworking one of their riffs, but they will wait on level 5 or 6 where they can complete their mission, all the worries of wandering around a mall trying to find what you were sent to get but can't find, because you're a useless adult obviously, the backing gets more claustrophobic, like you are really having an anxiety attack this will all end up on Snapchat.
Beating The Real World and using real money to buy real things in this surreal world they are now living in, the old folks still go on about quaint stuff like paying in cash and actually making phone calls on a landline. Still don't forget how many wondrous things there are in the real world.
The album closes with Forever, the closest Fir Cone Children have ever come to playing a ballad, this is slow acoustic guitar and neo-choral vocals with buzzsaw synths in the background, for a slow sad song about loss and pain, never forgetting those we've lost along the way.
Find out more at https://blackjackilluministrecords.bandcamp.com/album/vs-the-real-world https://www.facebook.com/FirConeChildren
