Firewater – The Golden Hour

Lonestar Records

£18.45

Format: LP
Catalogue No.: LS056
Barcode: 4059251414957
Release Date: 11th June 2021
Genre: Alternative / Punk

At the end of the day, man oh man, this record is a non-stop party. Sweaty, pissed off and joyous. In 2005, Firewater's Tod A embarked on what would become a three-year sabbatical through the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent and South East Asia. He had recently split with his wife; George W. Bush had just been re-elected; New York, his home for the last 20 years, had become a cold and foreign place. He wasn't even sure he wanted to make music anymore. "I was extremely depressed. The NYC skyline looked like bad wallpaper to me. It was either kill myself or hit the road," he says. He put everything he owned in storage and left NYC with a few clothes and a laptop. The journey Tod undertook would challenge him creatively in ways he couldn't have imagined in its planning stages. "I traveled overland starting in Delhi, India, across the Thar Desert, then through Rajasthan, onward through the Punjab, and into Pakistan," he recounts. "I had originally planned to continue overland through Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey, ending in Istanbul." But things didn't go exactly as planned. Along the way he was drugged, robbed, detained, and later struck down with severe intestinal problems. Travelers were disappearing along the road to Kabul. As Tod puts it, "I was forced to end my trip at the Khyber Pass on the Afghan border, due to general ill health and the unnerving likelihood of kidnapping." Recording with a single microphone and a laptop in his pack, he captured performances with a vast array of musicians across India and Pakistan--and eventually Turkey and Israel. Bhangra and sufi percussion would form the basis for the songs he wrote along the way--songs about the world he left behind ("This Is My Life", "Electric City"), politics ("Borneo", "Hey Clown"), and dislocation ("6:45", "Feels like the End of the World"). Tod's acerbic wit shines on The Golden Hour, elucidating both the beauty and the absurdity of the world. Firewater drummer Tamir Muskat (of Balkan Beat Box) produced, mixed and played on the album, along with a strange cast of characters from 5 different countries. Tod tells the story of the trip in a short video, which includes footage from his travels. He also chronicled his experiences on his travel blog, Postcards from the Other Side of the World. All this makes for a fine and interesting story. But at the end of the day, man oh man, this record is a non-stop party. Sweaty, pissed off and joyous. Originally released on CD in 2008 and now on vinyl for the first time! Remastered for the vinyl release. This record is a classic and we’re happy and proud to put it out on wax!

Track listing: Borneo; This Is My Life; Some Kind Of Kindness; Six Forty-Five; A Place Not So Unkind; Paradise; Banghra Bros; Electric City; Hey Clown; Already Gone; Feels Like The End Of The World; Weird To Be Back; Three Legged Dog