Lavender Katydid 2015
From weird to eternity: search for the meaning of life in the tickling gloom where monsters lurk.
Fornever And Never
No, there’s no typo in the title of Scott Fischer’s second album under the FF moniker, as this artist doesn’t propose a way forward but finds pleasure in backtracking. The additional “n”‘s that prevent one going into the future correspond nicely with the negative imperative of 2012’s "Katmandon't", whence Cheshire Cat progressed onto its follow-up cover to share the space with the Crawling King Snake, so the record they lure the listener in has not only a retro feel but also a dark hue to it.
Not for nothing ALICE COOPER’s “Halo Of Flies” is at home here, Jack Torrance-style, to throw an axe over to Fischer’s own theatrical punk-prog of “Mrs. Rogers (& The Land Of Make-Believe)” and make escapism a futile option as the folk ripple of “This Little Heart Of Mine” suggests. That’s the heart of a paradox behind a doo-wop wave carrying the joyous “Dead To Me” before the title track dissolves the tension in a chamber balladry and an elegant vigor of jazzy persuasion. Still, paradox doesn’t mean contradiction and, while the stately piano of “Black Mariah” drives a psyched-up effervescence towards the worry of “I just want to love again” refrain, it’s almost logical that “Dancin’ Girl” shapes a nervous “You don’t have to love me” sentiment.
There’s no hope, remember? It’s a means to an end which counts, not the end itself.
***4/5
