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Moshe · 03.24.2008, 02:45 PM

Tall Firs in Vice and Aversion

Hey- Vice Magazine just published a full-page interview with us where we talk about records that we like. I encourage you to go to their site so you can see the handsome photo. Feel free to leave a comment, ’cause the picture of the girl from Calgary smoking weed out of a PBR can has like 100 comments and we have one dude who couldn’t figure out that the band Tall Pines came after the band Tall Firs (though we wish them well).

Also, Catherine Asher wrote a thoughtful review of the new record for Aversion Magazine:

It’s just too darn easy to mistake sounding different with being weird and eccentric. Underground rock’s gutters are lined with bands that made that mistake, thinking eccentricities are a stand-in for hard work and talent. And in the short term, they sometimes are, but, the record-buying community’s still a lot smarter than anyone gives it credit for. That kind of trick doesn’t fly for long.

Tall Firs’ second album, Too Old to Die Young, offers the flip side of that coin. The New York trio knows, and knows darn well, that being different is no substitute for chops nor should immediate accessibility stand in the way of finding yourself musically. And while you’ll probably be stuck trying to pin down where Tall Firs come from on this album -- is that a bit of Dinosaur Jr.? Did I catch a glimpse of the Voidoids? Was that spacious rocker more indebted to Sonic Youth than it first appeared? -- you shouldn’t have to fuss too hard to just sit back and get down to it.

That maneuver takes the band closer to conventional indie rock. Its mix of single-note guitar patterns entwined with meatier rhythm stretches busts any immediate connotations with hipster favorites out the door. Instead, bits and pieces of Dino’s tuneful side sink in under a taste for spacious guitars gleaned from Tom Verlaine. Psychedelic bits and bobs are somehow help conjure up the ghost of folk minimalism that haunts Too Old to Die Young. It’s like taking a lot of uppers and a lot of downers at the same time, and, they sort of cancel each other out, but leave you feeling light in the feet and leaping at the same time.

"Good Intentions" sounds like J. Mascis tripping on a bottle of cough syrup, all molasses tempos and sticky-thick melodies. "So Messed Up," and "Warriors" shake off that haze, but still find the band wandering, a little stoned, through a haze of semi-droning guitars and enormous stretches of unfilled space; the Firs might have sped up a little bit, but they’re still command emptiness like before. "So Messed Up" and "Hairdo" edge the band closest it’s going to get to normalcy, somehow juggling bits of Pavement, Sonic Youth and Television like roaring chainsaws.

Tall Firs have their sound, and it’s rather distinctive. Big deal. That distinctive sound only really matters because the trio wants to make it engaging more than entertaining. That’s the real story behind Tall Firs: Their ability to make the weird and idiosyncratic seem almost -- almost, mind you -- normal and commonplace.

03.24.2008, 02:45 PM	#8
Moshe Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 5,928	Tall Firs in Vice and Aversion Hey- Vice Magazine just published a full-page interview with us where we talk about records that we like. I encourage you to go to their site so you can see the handsome photo. Feel free to leave a comment, ’cause the picture of the girl from Calgary smoking weed out of a PBR can has like 100 comments and we have one dude who couldn’t figure out that the band Tall Pines came after the band Tall Firs (though we wish them well). Also, Catherine Asher wrote a thoughtful review of the new record for Aversion Magazine: It’s just too darn easy to mistake sounding different with being weird and eccentric. Underground rock’s gutters are lined with bands that made that mistake, thinking eccentricities are a stand-in for hard work and talent. And in the short term, they sometimes are, but, the record-buying community’s still a lot smarter than anyone gives it credit for. That kind of trick doesn’t fly for long. Tall Firs’ second album, Too Old to Die Young, offers the flip side of that coin. The New York trio knows, and knows darn well, that being different is no substitute for chops nor should immediate accessibility stand in the way of finding yourself musically. And while you’ll probably be stuck trying to pin down where Tall Firs come from on this album -- is that a bit of Dinosaur Jr.? Did I catch a glimpse of the Voidoids? Was that spacious rocker more indebted to Sonic Youth than it first appeared? -- you shouldn’t have to fuss too hard to just sit back and get down to it. That maneuver takes the band closer to conventional indie rock. Its mix of single-note guitar patterns entwined with meatier rhythm stretches busts any immediate connotations with hipster favorites out the door. Instead, bits and pieces of Dino’s tuneful side sink in under a taste for spacious guitars gleaned from Tom Verlaine. Psychedelic bits and bobs are somehow help conjure up the ghost of folk minimalism that haunts Too Old to Die Young. It’s like taking a lot of uppers and a lot of downers at the same time, and, they sort of cancel each other out, but leave you feeling light in the feet and leaping at the same time. "Good Intentions" sounds like J. Mascis tripping on a bottle of cough syrup, all molasses tempos and sticky-thick melodies. "So Messed Up," and "Warriors" shake off that haze, but still find the band wandering, a little stoned, through a haze of semi-droning guitars and enormous stretches of unfilled space; the Firs might have sped up a little bit, but they’re still command emptiness like before. "So Messed Up" and "Hairdo" edge the band closest it’s going to get to normalcy, somehow juggling bits of Pavement, Sonic Youth and Television like roaring chainsaws. Tall Firs have their sound, and it’s rather distinctive. Big deal. That distinctive sound only really matters because the trio wants to make it engaging more than entertaining. That’s the real story behind Tall Firs: Their ability to make the weird and idiosyncratic seem almost -- almost, mind you -- normal and commonplace.
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