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November 16, 2007

Band To Watch: Fire On Fire

Fire On Fire, a super Portland, Maine quintet featuring ex members of Cerberus Shoal, wail on their acoustic instruments -- stand-up bass, mandolin, banjo, harmonium, accordion, guitar, tamboritza, jembe, dobro, etc -- and harmonize like nobody's business. They all live in the same house, which has seemingly forged them into one seamless brimstoned, rural-gospel choir rattling out some of the prettiest harmonies this side of Young God labelmates, Akron/Family, only more countrified. Our favorite tune from the band's debut five-song EP is its opener "Hangman," which gathers momentum on a strange Animal Collective-in-a-hay-field vocal pulse. Please accept it as the official Fire On Fire intro sermon after the jump. And keep in mind: Everyone, even the worst man, has friends.

Fire On Fire - "Hangman" (MP3)

That warble really is so great and knotty. The group has a transcendent pulse to 'em -- sounds cheesy, but take a look at a back-porch rendition of "Amnesia," and notice how it all sorta crackles and waves? Right, like fire.

The 5-song EP, hand-screened heavy stock/velum packaging in a limited edition of 1,000, is only available at the Young God site and at the band's live show. Look for their debut full-length of all new material to show up on Young God sometime next year.

Posted at 5:36 PM in ,
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8 Comments

Not a bad song until they started singing.

Posted by: Elliot at 11/16/07 9:51 PM | Reply
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Go Fire on Fire!

It's cool to see a band from my hometown (South Portland) being covered on a national blog.

You know Chris of FoF is friends with Marissa Nadler and Larkin Grimm? Not a big surprise.

Posted by: Dylan at 11/17/07 10:31 AM | Reply
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Wow, those guys look edgy...edgy in the way wheatgrass is edgy. Didn't really like the music so much, but those are really cool chairs.

Posted by: Mikey Likes It at 11/17/07 7:32 PM | Reply
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Maine is a cultural vacuum.

Posted by: Ben at 11/18/07 4:53 PM | Reply
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A not-that-well-written (by me) review of their very good EP. Don't miss them live if/when you get the chance (it'll be a few months, at least).
http://thephoenix.com/article_ektid48610.aspx

Posted by: Chris at 11/19/07 9:27 AM | Reply
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best band in portland maine is Cult Maze. hands down.

Posted by: tom at 11/19/07 12:37 PM | Reply
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haha... cult maze...

Posted by: cultural vacuum at 11/19/07 2:08 PM | Reply
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I saw a good band called An Evening With open for Magnolia Electric Company. Diamond Sharp rules too.
Maine music scene is kicking. Don't forget Ray Lamontagne!

Posted by: Megan T at 01/08/08 4:12 PM | Reply
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