Flaming Fire Spawn Nightmares
This Brooklyn-based collective—think Animal, not New Pornographer—revels in somnolent call-and-response chants, the musical equivalent of Spiritualist automatic writing techniques. Discord reigns on Flaming Fire’s Kentucky Shroud, a jarring cacophony of sounds manufactured by leader Patrick Hambrecht and his apostles (among them, his wife, Kate).
Their tracks are firmly rooted in place—Williamsburg, natch—but time is of the essence when drugs abound. In “Natural Light Catastrophe,” the clan bemoan their hipster, drug-induced poverty with lyrics like, “But in Williamsburg they’re doing cocaine, money up the nose, money down the drain.” There’s a lot of growling and groaning and angry spitting throughout the album, but somehow the Manson family-manqué manage to charm through their admittedly frightening veneer. —Nick Haramis
Photography by Owen Fegan
