Fires In Distant Buildings

Dreamy, intense art rock. Male vocals, usually falsetto. Beautiful yet gripping and often dark and subtly foreboding. Each song stands apart with a unique personality yet the album remains cohesive. An amazing piece of musical art. Third full-length from this Bristol, UK trio. Singer/ songwriter/ guitarist Nick Talbot is also in chamber/ambient duo Bronnt Industries Kapital. All tracks excellent. FCC clean. Start with 2, 6.

1. Downtempo and dreamy, bursting into high energy for final minute. Instrumental for first two minutes. Sorta like Pinback underwater. Flashes of energy frame the vaguely threatening, soporific flow. Starts very quietly with various noises for first 30 secs. Long fade on noisy guitar chord that bleeds into next track.
==> 2. Cue manually (chord bleeds in from previous track). High-energy music with dreamy vocals. “To understand the killer, I must become the killer.” False ending with 2 mins left; becomes a sparser, low key instrumental ballad. Starts with fast kickdrum. Slow fade on a guitar note, then some seconds of silence at end.
3. Slow-mid, swaying ballad. Lilting vocals. “They descend upon the city like flies, spraying their eggs into a dead dog’s eyes.” Starts with sedate solo guitar strumming, then jazzy drums join in. Nice organ throughout. Gets a bit noisier toward end. Fades on organ note, then several secs of silence.
4. Sparse, slow, quiet ballad. Happy melody belies deep, and deeply sad, lyrics. “I cry for mercy/you stare back blankly.” Starts quietly with guitar and brushed snare. Organ chord ends abruptly, then several secs of silence.
5. Krautrock instrumental. Very Electrelane-like. Driving and repetitive. Fades up very slowly, reaching full volume after about 30 secs. Long, slow fade, then about 5 secs of silence.
==> 6. Introspective goth ballad. “In deserted towns and burial mounds there is beauty that no one will see.” Gorgeous, subtle, harmony vocals. Starts with minor-key guitar strumming. Second half of song has prominent organ. Song transforms into a sparse instrumental with about 1 min left. Long, slow fade, then several secs of silence.
7. Epic (>10 mins), downtempo, dark ballad that becomes bombastic and darker. Then the clouds part and it’s quiet again and then the storm circles ’round once more. “We can’t function outside of these thoughts of suicide.” Starts with quiet, plucked guitar. Ends stormy, then long slow fade... and at very end, a little bass guitar glissando.
8. Another epic (>9 mins) downtempo, dark ballad. Heavily-reverbed vocals. Starts out sounding a bit like “Time Of The Season” by The Zombies. Organ comes in and pace accelerates toward end... and keeps accelerating... and then as the dust clears it’s slow again... and slower. Final 20 seconds is extremely quiet.