| Flash bang wallop bosh! Guy Fawkes has a lot to answer for. The Osama Bin Laden of his day has left a deadly legacy. Venture out on the 5th of November and you’re sure of a big surprise. That’s right, pondlife kiddies out for a bit of the old ultraviolence. In the grand tradition of Alex and his droogs (without the dress sense) the hoody clad little treasures of this world think nothing of sending an exploding bang stick in the direction of your face. Pow! And why shouldn’t they? I mean after all, explosions are fun...
Ugh! Grunt! Okay cavedwellers, here’s the dealio. I always liked the Catherine Wheel... No, not the shit Goth band... Fireworks Night are more interested with conjuring the transient splendour of the spinning light show than any bang and bluster of the exploding fireworks. Their s is a nocturnal barroom world peopled by damaged souls: drunken, heartbroken, but ever so deep minds. Pour us another double, Jack, and I’ll tell you my story.
Like Low, the Dirty Three or Nick Cave, Fireworks Night are a profoundly serious group. With spare pianos and guitars, they weave simple vignettes, maudlin tales of dissolved love, depression and darkness. But there is real beauty here if you choose to find it. ‘A Picture Worth Framing’ tips its hat to the stoical sadness of Neil Young’s ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’. ‘The Shiver in Your Bones’ is a sweet countrified lament, replete with banjos and wine sodden down home sentiment. The finest moment is the title track, a gorgeous organ driven tale of lovers parted by the ocean, and a letter secreted in a suitcase. It’s here that Fireworks Night are easily the equal of their contemporaries. This album certainly won’t appeal to everyone, but night-owls should seek it out.
Written by Ben Murphy for Speakers Push The Air webzine(www.speakerspushtheair.com), June 2005.
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