by Hunter King
Firewalkers has had a long road. The original plan was to
have it released at the 2017 SurfGuitar101, and The Mystery Men? even
played the album in its entirety, essentially treating it as an album
release. However, it missed that date and instead they released a
preview EP called Embers with some choice cuts from the album. So naturally it felt like it was just around the corner. A year later, they released a
revealing that they had been robbed and needed some help to see the
light of day. And again, there were preview clips of this record, a few
more crumbs.
That GoFundMe hasn’t been a roaring success (hint, hint) but Firewalkers is real. I have heard it. And it’s kind of wonderful that it will make its true debut, CD copies on-hand, at , essentially their own event on their home turf.
Firewalkers begins with a 30-second intro track
with middle eastern vibes, leading into the opener “Adhan” which itself
has an extended intro trying on different guitar styles than the
familiar surftone that it soon breaks into. On one hand it reminds me of
the song “Sun & Sand”, the breezy intro to The Madeira’s seminal Sandstorm ().
I like that aspect, it tells you to treat this album as a thoughtful
work of art (though you will never hear me speak ill of an artless,
fun-focused surf record). However, I think it overreaches a bit, tells
you to expect something strange and experimental, and while I don’t
think Firewalkers is devoid of that, I think misses the heart of the record. But that really doesn’t matter, you keep listening.
This really isn’t the bold new face of The Mystery Men? The sound of this record isn’t a departure from their excellent LP Sonos Delirium
and the first two tracks will remind you of that in the best way,
making you think “hot damn, it’s another Mystery Men? Record!” But it’s the slow-moving ballad “Sky Lanterns” that’s the
first differentiator. You’ll rarely find me espousing the virtues of the
slow songs of records but they really tap into something wonderful and
sweet here, and the tune will stick with you on the first listen. It
reminds me of The Shadows’ “Theme for Young Lovers” (high praise from
me, I walked down the aisle to that song). Right as you’re getting a
little lulled by the lullaby, the last third of the song breaks into a
new verse, breathing new life into it.
The heart of this record is, well, heart. Even the next
song “Twice as Bright”, much brighter and backed by a surfbeat, has an
emotionality to the guitar. Firewalkers often feels sombre, lonely,
hopeful, mournful. Part of what I like about instrumental music is the
freedom to interpret a song in your own way, but this is also a
testament to the ability to transmit emotion through mere vibration from
strings.
The other big winner here is melody. As a voracious surf
consumer I’d heard a lot of this album before I actually heard it, but
on the 2nd and 3rd listen I found myself cross-referencing the material
they had already released to confirm that I had not already been
listening to some of these songs for months.
There’s a good balance to the sweet songs with some
louder, more powerful songs like “Overlord” and “Proud March of the
9th”, the latter of which bears some similarities to The Madeira’s
“Ricochet”. “Hotel Loneliness” isn’t exactly meant to overpower, but
there’s a metal-influenced menace to the growling bassline. There’s also
a very jazzy breakdown to one of my favorites “Dancing with Andromeda”.
For those of us that whet our appetites with Embers,
there are changes to some of these songs. While I suspect there were
simply mastering changes to “Happy Kingdom by the Sea” and some
different mixing to “Rubicon” (one of my favorites), the
Spaghetti-Westernish closer “Make Me No Grave” is significantly reworked
with much more prominent (or even new?) acoustic guitar elements and a
bit more accordion front-and-center.
At 16 tracks this is a hefty album and with each listen
you’ll find another track leap out at you a bit more. Firewalkers was
worth the wait and worth a way-too-long review. I need to hurry up and
listen to it a few more times before seeing them play it at
I normally release my reviews on the release date, but this is a bit early in hopes to bring a few more people to that
page. Not only is the music worth it on its own, but the members of The
Mystery Men? are luminaries of instro music in the southeast region of
the US, tireless promoting bands and putting on shows. Even if you’re a
monster that feels nothing from these songs, you can at least feel good
supporting their cause. When it's actually released there will be CD
copies, bandcamp, and with your help vinyl.
