Fireworks Night - A Mirror, A Ghost

It's the 5th of November, the night when people all over Britain celebrate the gruesome death of some Catholics in 1605. Or just go and build a bonfire and watch some fireworks going off. It's also a good day to release a new album. Especially if your band's name is Fireworks Night.

Fireworks Night have been round these parts before, after they released their second long-player As Fools We Are last year. It was a fine album, but didn't get the attention it deserved, a fact which seems to have left main man James Lesslie a little downhearted. A slightly turbulent period in the band's history followed, but thankfully now things are back on track following the recruitment of some new members, including The Mules' Ed Seed, and the recording of six new songs to form the rather splendid A Mirror, A Ghost EP.

I say new, but two of the tracks are re-recordings of older FN songs. But these, combined with the four really new ones comprise what feels like their most substantial work to date. Sure, part of the appeal is in the record's brevity and trim-ness, and even though i prefer the older version of Echo's Swing with its explosive post rock wig-out ending, there's a general meatiness to the songs here, and you feel that there's something fresh to return to each time.

I've listened to the EP several times now and still don't feel that I've got a full grasp on the songs. I mean this in a good way, because each time I return, there's something different to enjoy. Sometimes it's a piece of haunting strings, other times I note someone's got a liking for noisy guitars. I heartily recommend these songs to you and hope you'll find their company as pleasing as I have. They'll warm you like a bonfire for sure. Sometimes they might even be exciting like the fireworks that have been popping away outside my window all evening. But what's guaranteed is that this EP will stick with you for much longer.

mp3: Fireworks Night - The Fire

Fireworks Night myspace / Organ Grinder page

Buy A Mirror, A Ghost from the Organ Grinder shop. Oh, and hurry. There were only 500 made, in a lovely hand-printed cardboard box sleeve (a painstaking process, as this testifes).