London dream-pop ensemble Firestations are back with their first full album in five years. Preceded by the single ‘Undercover’ – an effervescent song about depression and self-discovery – ‘Thick Terrain’ is released by Lost Map Records on limited-edition 12” vinyl and digital platforms. It’s a clear-eyed and bold statement, deftly combining big ideas with pop sensibilities in a captivating way – it might be the band’s best work to date.
Firestations are Mike Cranny, Laura Copsey, Martin Thompson, Tom Hargreaves and Neil Walsh – collectively a band that spans genres from shoegazey indie and intimate folksy warmth, through to addictive synth pop and harmony driven psychedelia. Lost Map released their second album ‘The Year Dot’ in 2018 and this was followed in 2021/22 by three EPs – ‘Automatic Tendencies’, ‘Melted Medium’ and ‘Pixel Wilderness’. Each six-track EP embraced a mixtape aesthetic, including alternative “sunken” versions of songs by the band as well as covers and remixes of Firestations tracks by other artists (including Lost Map labelmate Clementine March). Laura curated collections of limited-edition artworks (a brass chip fork, a ceramic mountain) that expanded on the ideas within each release.
Following a period of writing and reconfiguration – Giles Littleford departed for the Midlands and Neil Walsh ably filled his bassy shoes – the band returned to Otterhead Studios in mid-2022, for what they expected to be the first of a few recording sessions. As it happened though, it all came together beautifully (thanks to engineers Oscar and Ellis), the songs made sense together and it felt like an album.
Over the ten tracks – ranging from cyclical hypnotic sci-fi numbers to addictive dream-pop jangle – the band zoom in (and out) on some themes including identity, memory, conflict and progress.“Where is the joy? Is it over? Where is the joy? Still undercover?”
About the meaning of ‘Thick Terrain’, Mike says: “Album titles are tricky – you just sort of have to go fishing in your subconscious until you catch something that speaks to you. To get to ‘Thick Terrain’ we had a series of pub-based meetings, where we free-associated some of the meanings of the songs, just blurted things out and wrote them down.
Laura had been watching ‘Love Island’ (purely for research purposes), and mentioned how contestants were constantly getting “the ick”.
We thought about calling it Ick Terrain, but as the pints flowed we gravitated towards ‘Thick Terrain’. This spoke to the main themes of the album and fit in with the art concept that Laura and artist friends KeelerTornero were cooking up: edible landscapes – surreal vistas with strange, almost hallucinatory, food items embedded within them… A jelly mountain… The zine which accompanies the limited-edition vinyl release delves further into this idea, offering more delicious places to sink your teeth into as you listen to the record.”
released July 14, 2023
The Fat Angel Sings 