The recurring sense of travel fatigue that runs through this eponymous debut album made me think of a line in The Talking Heads' The Big Country in which David Byrne sings "I'm tired of travelling, I want to be somewhere". This is somewhat ironic given the fact that Fiery Blue is a long distance project based in separate cities.
The album came together by a process in which San Diego songwriter, Paul Marsteller sent his songs to Austin for producer and multi-instrumentalist, Gabe Rhodes (assisted by Hunt Sales on bass and drums) to lay down the arrangements .
After Rhodes had done his bit, singer Simone Stevens added her sultry vocals in a New York studio.
All words and music are by Marsteller with the exceptions of Far and Near (Rhodes wrote the music) and Neon Age (words co-written by Stevens).
Marstellar's lyrics are written from a female perspective and are described as "moody portraits of the untidy situations people often find themselves in".
His songs are straightforward and unambiguous although he has a fondness for poetic language such as when evoking "the desert's vast whispered song" on Diamond Ride. It has to be said, however, that when it comes to metaphors, he is not so original. In Fire Show, for instance, volcanoes represent the heat of passion and he resorts to that old chestnut of life as a highway (Diamond Ride / Magic) alongside the equally familiar notion of life as one big roller coaster ride (Funland).
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The stories within the songs are fairly predictable too. On the opening track (Big Moment) a woman is waiting at the train station for a man who's been gone she hasn't for 3 years and it all comes full circle on the closing song (Wild Bird) where she imagines a train taking her away to a new life.
The theme of travel , with all the real or imagined arrivals and departures this entails, highlights the boundaries between people. whether physical or emotional. On Stranger, for instance, it doesn't help that the man is in the same room as he keeps his feelings so well hidden. Being on the move offers no real consolation either. In Neon Age, the towns passed through only prompt the reflection that "the more I see the more they look the same".
This album contains elements of folk, soft rock, country and pop but in which the Alt./New Country style of artists like Lucinda Williams or Mary Chapin Carpenter offers the closest point of reference.
The mostly restrained backbeats and Steven's cool vocals give the eighteen tunes an air of weary resignation. Its lack of real vitality means that, like many a long journey, it starts with feeling of expectation it ends up being a bit of a drag.
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