Swan Lake: “All Fires”
More and more I find my musical taste becoming more focused on three distinct genres: ambitious pop music, slickly-produced dance tracks and well, Britpop. So much so that I’ve begun to wonder if there will come a day when my listening habits will have devolved to the point that I listen exclusively to Guillemots, Bloc Party and whatever it is Paul Epworth and Erol Alkan are up to at the time - which, if things keep going the way they are now for Epworth and Alkan, will probably consist primarily of “ruling the world”. However, every once and a while a song like “All Fires”, which couldn’t stray further from any of those categories, comes along and bitch-slaps me right back to square one.
As you’ve probably read on every blog ever by now, Swan Lake is the new collaboration between Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade), Dan Bejar (Destroyer, New Pornographers) and Carey Mercer (Frog Eyes), and “All Fires” is the first track available off of their Jagjaguwar debut, Beast Moans, which is to be released this November. Now I’m a big fan of the New Pornographers (see: “ambitious pop music”), but Wolf Parade’s always been pretty hit or miss for me and neither Destroyer (Bejar’s main gig) nor Wolf Eyes have ever really gotten much love from my iPod. But while I might not be so stoked on the individual parts, the sum of the whole sure is pretty damn excellent.
While all three members provide vocals in their respective individual projects, Krug takes the vocal reins here, though there’s no telling how this will be handled on the unheard remainder of the album. The trio’s bio describes their collaboration as the three coming together “as if stuck in a sea-storm, in a sinking boat, forced to bail together”. Interestingly enough, this is the scene evoked by “All Fires”, as Krug sings of a flood, “a world of water”, and the tragedy of a town’s struggle to survive. The most stirring moment comes in the fourth and fifth verses, as Krug sings with haunting simplicity of the townspeoples’ futile struggle for life:
One thousand people
Did what they could.
They found the steeple
And tore out the wood.Five hundred pieces
Means five hundred float.
One thousand people means
Five hundred don’t.
Through it all, Krug, Bejar and Mercer stand huddled together on high ground, instruments in hand and rain beating down on their backs, helplessly watching the disaster unfold below. The tragedy of it all is summed up perfectly in the final refrain - “all fires have to burn alive to live”. That is, hardship and grief are the necessity of life, and though many refuse to accept this fact, “All Fires” is the sound of the Swan Lake collective accepting what so many cannot. Beast Moans comes out on November 21st on Jagjaguwar, click here for more information.
MP3: “All Fires” - Swan Lake ((highly recommended))
ELSEWHERE: Green Pea-ness has the new Phones’ remix, which despite being commissioned by The Music (who are um, dreadful), retains Epworth’s high standard of quality and hotness.