New Music Review
Posted by Ali MarcusGran Bel Fisher
Full Moon Cigarette
The first time I listened to Full Moon Cigarette was in a snowstorm and it was strangely appropriate. I thought my car wouldn’t make it home, and Gran Bel Fisher’s apocalyptic voice somehow soothed my nerves. By the time I made it home the album had looped three times, so it’s fair to say that it was an experience.
Though Gran Bel Fisher is an artist worthy of emotional depth, I wasn’t able to connect with the record. It’s contrived. He is an artist with a deep, warm baritone, and also an exceptional range, and it seems like everything on the album is working against that. The arrangements are over the top, with lots of unnecessary decadence in the form of excessive instrumentation and insanely high reverb. Most of the record smacks of gadget-happy studio tricksters.
Despite the gaudiness, a few tracks achieve the awesomeness that they aim for. “Far Cry,” easily the best song on the album, is syncopated and captivating and it has this amazing guitar riff in the 2nd chorus that I wish had more of a presence throughout the song. “Baby Boy” is a fairly pure rock bit, with an oddly moving story. And “Change” is brooding, and much less tense than everything else. If a producer is proud of this album for how “tight” it sounds, “Change” is where it finally loosens up and the relief is satisfyingly tangible. Fisher must be under a lot of pressure to perform his voice to the max, because it is so powerful, but these instances where he relaxes show a lot of potential.
Lucky for us though, it turns out that Gran Bel Fisher is more than just a voice. I discovered this last night at the Tractor Tavern, where I watched him play his songs with just acoustic guitar accompaniment. It was refreshing to hear his voice reverberating off the cramped venue walls, rather than the metaphorical echo chamber on the album. Fisher called the set a stripped down version of the album, but that implies that the album is the starting point, and I’d be inclined to start with the songs themselves, and in that case the live show seemed to do them a much better justice.
Fisher’s songs are fairly simple, lyrically, and the ripping blues guitar or the dissonant piano accompaniment makes for a nice foil against the simplistic lyrics. This combination, judging from last night’s show, does a lot in the way of exposing the subtle craft of songwriting and performance. The way that the arrangements on the album overpower the songs actually serves to diminish their effect. While I can understand the desire to rawk, to live up to a voice that demands such attention, it’s important to make sure you can still get your message across. Fisher’s a great example of an artist that has enough talent to be able to make his own choices, so it may all just be in the choosing.
