Although most Americana fans would probably think of Georgia rather than Guildford when thinking of the deep south, this eponymously-titled debut from an enormously promising Surrey quintet serves further notice that the British roots-rock rearguard action remains potent and vital.
'Two Fingers Of Firewater' was recorded in the band's own converted studio (actually a unit of a local strawberry farm) during the winter with only a lone paraffin heater for company. Considerably more austere than the kind of sunkissed LA conditions that birthed pioneering country-rock albums such as 'Sweetheart Of The Rodeo' and 'The Gilded Palace Of Sin' of course, but if you shut your eyes and immerse yourself it's hard not to imagine a nudie-suited bunch of honchos tearing up Topanga Canyon when you hear grittily authentic, steel-soaked tunes like 'I'm Not Sad' and the glorious 'Endless Highway' with its' honky-tonk piano and pedal steel meister Alex Chappelow apparently morphing into Sneeky Pete Kleinow before your very ears.
Listening to songs like these and their shuddering, express train hoedown version of the brooding, trad.arr 'Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down' then you know you're in the company of youngsters who understand the finer points of their chosen genre's history. Crucially, though, TFOF are anything but mere copyists and during the course of this hugely engaging 40 minutes, they prove they can turn their hand to everything from swerving, low-riding ratchet-y rockers ('South Bank Girl') through to finger-picked folk tenderness with Gallic touches ('B Mando'), stridently heavy power pop with guitarists Alex Chappelow and Jon Clarke duelling mightily ('The End') and even an excursion into OST-style atmosphere courtesy of 'The Beginning"s feedback fuzz. Versatility, it seems, is certainly the watchword here.
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Naturally, it's all done with love and skill, and even when the influences are easy to spot (dig that wonderfully spangly, 12-string Roger McGuinn-style guitar at the end of the great 'The Night Ends'), these songs are performed with a contemporary energy and sprit that's TFOF's own. Hell, they've even got the style and grace to leave us with a dog-eared, but hugely likeable 'morning after' country-blues canter called 'The World Can Turn', which - with its' yawning steel and gorgeous tinkly piano from Stephen Price - could be be Two Fingers' very own 'Roll Another Number For The Road'. And it doesn't get much classier than that.
'Two Fingers Of Firewater', then, is undoubtedly a very good start indeed. It proffers a passionate, if slightly ramshackle and very live sound which only makes it more compelling and convincing as it rolls along. Whether you take it neat or on the rocks, it slides down easy and then provides you with a very pleasant kick afterwards.
Keep 'em comin', if you please, bartender.
(http://www.myspace.com/twofingersoffirewater)
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