The debut album from D.C. band Time Is Fire is the sort of record that reminds one why this city is capable of producing some of the most astute and incendiary (no pun intended) rock over and over again. Produced and recorded by Brendan Canty (Rites of Spring, Fugazi, The Messthetics), the release, out on Friday, sees the five-piece roar at sometimes lightning speed over rhythms that are indebted to the work of the post-punk pioneers of ages ago, even as the polemic here, from Iran-born vocalist and lyricist Kamyar Arsani, seems to be naturally D.C. in flavor.
Opener "My Sins" sounds a tiny bit like "I Zimbra" from Talking Heads, as does many a track here, but Time Is Fire imbue this stuff with genuine fervor, not just a dilettante-ish dabbling in world music forms. "We Declare", for instance, sees the band put as much energy into revving up the hooks behind Arsani's Beefheart-like vocals, as Kamyar does in rallying the masses from behind the mic. The pleas from the vocalist, with snatches of lyrics hitting at the despair of life in America in 2020, are the kinds of vocal styles you've not heard from lots of bands from this city. And one might even go back to seminal Pere Ubu recordings to find a parallel (sonically) to what's being thrown down here.
Still, for all of the rage and life in Kamyar's performances, the players here -- Kai Filipczak (bass), Matthew Perrone (guitar), Jeff Barsky (guitar), Jim Thompson (drums, percussion) -- carry this forward. On "Rivers", with Kaymar sounding like a man possessed, the musicians behind him lock into a groove that finds spindly hooks amid the chaos. With walls of guitar-squall coming down, the rhythm section buoys this up. And, admittedly, some of the success of In Pieces is due to the strengths of producer Canty. The Fugazi drummer recorded this in such a way that every cut retains the kind of harnessed volatility one hears in radio sessions of old punk bands. "Sun", for example, might very well be carefully composed but it sounds fresh and nearly spontaneous here, like a jazz fusion set luckily burned onto tape. That one, along with the sharp harDCore-influenced post-rock of "Poor is Poor" seem the highlights here, even if "Impossible Nights" indicates that the band is capable of undertaking an entirely more lyrical and nuanced journey.
In Pieces is out on Friday via Electric Cowbell / Insect Fields, and more details can be had through the link below.
More details on Time Is Fire via the band's official Facebook page.
[Photo: Farrah Skeiky Photo, artwork: Laura Irene]