![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/donovans_brain_fire.jpg\")
I\u2019ve covered more releases than I can easily count by Donovan\u2019s Brain. (Okay, I counted, and it\u2019s at least four. Math\u2019s not my strong suit.) And there\u2019s a reason for that: the rock-pop collective is a reliable source of engaging, intriguing and just plain tuneful rock. So when a new album from that outfit arrives on my desk, I enthusiastically give it a listen.<\/p>\n
And here they are again, with Fire Printing<\/i>. When I pop the CD into my PC-connected player, the artists registers as Appearing as Donovan\u2019s Brain. Why, I cannot tell you. Perhaps that billing has to do with the shifting lineup; Donovan\u2019s Brain has always seemed more of a collective than a band. A collective of like-minded, highly creative individuals, though.<\/p>\n
Longtime drummer Ric Parnell (the explosive drummer from This is <\/i>S<\/i>pinal Tap<\/i>) is on most \u2013 but not all \u2013 of the album; he passed away not long ago. Joe Adragna (best known as The Junior League) drums on the others, and plays a bunch of other instruments as well. Scott McCaughey (Minus 5, Young Fresh Fellows, The Baseball Project, R.E.M. etc.) appears on one cut. Frequent associate Deniz Tek plays on one cut. Point being, the core members of Ron Sanchez and Scott Sutherland are joined by their pals in this endeavor.<\/p>\n
The record is characteristically eclectic. An ode to another musical friend, \u201cHey Bobby!\u201d name-checks Bobby Sutliff and Parnell (among others) in a mournful, Plastic Ono Band-esque tune. A hazy psychedelic vibe informs many of the songs, along with a winning late \u201860s\/early \u201870s sonic aesthetic. Fire Printing<\/i> is perhaps more idiosyncratic than previous Donovan\u2019s Brain albums, but it\u2019s every bit as strong.<\/p>\n
Highlights are many. \u201cUnreal\u201d is a chiming, minor-key midtempo jangle rocker. \u201cStranger in the Light of Day\u201d is a swirling, fetchingly off-kilter psych number with distorted guitar and a lysergic vibe. \u201cHow to Leave Connecticut\u201d is a lumbering, countrifed cut that could pass for an unheard recording by Olivia Tremor Control. \u201cMirror Pieces\u201d feels like shoegaze meets \u201890s powerful alternarock a la The Posies. \u201cStay Strong\u201d conjures a Big Star 3<\/i>rd<\/i><\/sup> vibe. \u201cAn Echo of Apology\u201d is seven-plus minutes of disorienting sonic crosstalk. A haunted, melancholy feel pervades the album, filled with lyrics about loss and regret. Extensive and effective use of Mellotron only reinforces those characteristics.<\/p>\n Fire Printing<\/i> isn\u2019t a \u201chappy\u201d record. It\u2019s also not an immediate one; the music may require multiple spins to burrow its way into your psyche. But if you give it time, the rewards are many. So when the mood strikes you in the right way, the latest from Donovan\u2019s Brain can be just the right ticket.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve covered more releases than I can easily count by Donovan\u2019s Brain. (Okay, I counted, and it\u2019s at least four. Math\u2019s not my strong suit.) And there\u2019s a reason for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27818,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,57,62,65],"tags":[704],"class_list":["post-27817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-release","category-psych","category-rawk","category-review","tag-donovans-brain","cat-49-id","cat-57-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27817"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27829,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27817\/revisions\/27829"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}