Albums

There Will Be Fireworks - There Will Be Fireworks

Chris Tapley 18/07/2009

Rating: 5/5

'Colombian Fireworks', the opening to There Will Be Fireworks eponymous debut album could scarcely be more apt. Electronic glitches and clicks give way to ethereal guitars and the dulcet tones of Scottish poet Kevin MacNeil; “there will be fireworks, and they will light up your eyes and you will feel more alive than ever before”, then erupting in to a cacophonous wall of guitars and pounding drums. It's a fierce statement of intent, and personifies the Glasgow four pieces self released debut, the intersection of understated beauty and noise permeates the record from beginning to end. As such the thunderous climax of the first track segues in to the delicate, almost too shy to be heard pastoral eloquence of 'So The Story Goes'. Then again, the lush acoustics and harmonies of 'Guising' flows right in to the crushingly heavy guitars of 'Off With Their Heads'.

The true beauty of this record lies here in the vastness of it's settings, from the sprawling glacial beauty of 'A Kind of Furnace', to the discordant melancholia of 'Headlights' or the anthemic soaring of 'Says Aye'. In terms of scope and ambition it's pretty much unrivalled as a debut album in 2009, perhaps for maybe fellow countrymen Broken Records. Though where as 'Until the Earth Begins to Part' was distant and impersonal in it's grandeur, There Will Be Fireworks is relatable and intimate, insular. Rather than swelling up around you the songs creep under your skin, inflaming your heart and your soul, constantly bubbling to the surface with the climaxes threatening to burst out in to the outside world. These songs would be destroyed in the outside world though, because for all of their ferocity they are timid and naive at heart. Nicholas McManus' lyrics seemingly channelling the lost and hopeless romantic that at times we all feel like ; On 'Midfied Maestro' he pleads “If I show up at your house, then please don't scream and shout, it's only 'cause I don't know where to go”. On 'We Were A Roman Candle' he screams furiously at the lack of foresight we've all cursed, “I should've been more cautious, should've been less kind, should've held my tongue until I knew it was right”. The lyrics come even further in to their own though when paired with the ragged passionate delivery, equally so whether it's a subdued whisper or a piercing scream.

It's on those more subdued tracks that you begin to notice the details which lurk in the corners of the record, intriguing noises flitting through the song, little lyrical references to previous tracks; it really is an album which you can get lost in. Everything sits together so perfectly, each track flowing seamlessly in to the next. I really struggle to find anything not to like about this album, what would probably be considered the centre point of the album 'A Kind of Furnace' rambles on a little bit too long at seven minutes, but then on the other hand it offers a welcome respite from the intense passion which precedes and follows it. So, nothing then; this is as good as debut albums come. With work all ready under way on the follow up it seems needless to say there's a lot more to come from There Will Be Fireworks.