Firewater – The Golden Hour

Jamie introduced me to Firewater a few years ago, when I first moved to the Bay Ara. The band is actually from the other side of the country (New York City), but Jamie has close ties with Tod A (the band’s songwriter and front man), and he gave me a bunch of the CDs and encouraged me to attend their ’04 live show at The Bottom Of The Hill. I liked the music, and thought that the concert was exceptionally good (better even than Gogol Bordello, another one of Jamie’s tips).

After that tour, the sporadic updates that I got on Tod started getting increasingly unusual. He had gotten divorced. He had become fed up with America after Bush’s reelection. He had sold all of his belongings and had embarked on a long journey to Asian and Middle-Eastern countries. He wanted to see the world and collect music. He even kept a travel blog about his experiences.

But after a while I lost track. I knew that Tod had eventually returned from his travels, but I missed the release of his resulting album, as well as Firewater’s San Francisco show this June. Well, better late than never… I checked out the CD today, and want to recommend it to my readers.

You won’t find a more honest and personal album than The Golden Hour. How many people do you know who actually made good on those empty threats to “leave the country if Bush got reelected”? Now imagine a guy who didn’t just leave the country – he discarded of his old life, traveled to many of the countries that are on the national “OMG thems de enemy!” list (visiting Pakistan and Iran, and only being kept out of Afghanistan by illness), connected with the local cultures, and wove his recordings into a unique record upon return.

The result is often catchy, sometimes exotic – and always authentic. All the radio samples and chanting people are real. The locations and experiences mentioned in the songs are real. Never mind whether you agree or disagree with Tod’s political leanings (the song “Hey Clown” leaves no doubt about Tod opinion of Bush: “There’s something that I just got to say to you/These are the worst times that I ever knew/And all my troubles are because of you/And your pathetic crew”) – this is what music used to be all about!

I’ll be honest: I can’t listen to the personal, heart-felt music that The Golden Hour represents all the time. When every story is autobiographical it’s hard to detach yourself from the songs (and the guy who wrote them) and find your own meaning in them. It’s obviously his songs – you cannot really make them your own.

But that’s the nature of the beast. If you like what music stands for you should check out Firewater’s latest record. You can listen to all of the songs on the band’s MySpace page. And if you like what you hear, I encourage you to support the Firewater via a purchase – the album is available on iTunes! I can assure you that your money will not end up in the pockets of some big music corporate giant.