CDReview: Love Like Fire - An Ocean In the Air - Grade: B
Love Like Fire
An Ocean in the Air
Black Ludella
'No great band will ever rise again from San Francisco,' said one of SF's alt weeklies (probably us) in 2004 amid the dotcom fallout. Las Vegas transplant and Love Like Fire singer Ann Yu moved to the Bay Area that year, read the news, and got bummed.
“I got really depressed, thinking, 'I just moved here. What do I do now?'”
Well, Ann formed a rock band anyway, and three years later, An Ocean In the Air, the second EP from the Yu-fronted, 18-month old rock quartet calls bullshit on ...
that old alt-weekly story. LoveLikeFire and its ilk will do just fine, thank you.
While unoriginal in terms of overall sound, this seven-song album has at least three and half Live 105-ready hits, giving it a phenomenal batting average of .500. Parts Green Day meets Muse and The Cure, LLF's sound represents many SF bands working near shoegaze, but obsessed with pop. What really sets it apart, however, is Yu's strong yet delicate vocals. She is not a woman to be ignored.
Most of the songs were written and recorded during the band's last year riding a wave of blog buzz and first-time gigging. “Wish You Dead” debuted on the band's MySpace page, all up-tempo guitars, pop structure and Ann's authoritative yet twee voice singing I can't help but wish you dead / I wish you dead / Sometimes I wish you dead, my friend. They need to develop that aggressive streak.
Free studio time last year forced the band to complete “Wish You Dead” amid a new period of craziness in their lives. Similarly “I Will” captures the psychic momentum of knowing you're on a roll. Opening Yeah Yeah Yeahs-style with an acoustic guitar chord progression building around the chorus I'm a star! / I conquer the world! / Destroy all my enemies! / My friends will follow me! / My friends will follow me!
The band doesn't overthink on this album, because they lacked the time to, says Yu. Similarly, the mixing and mastering conveys such immediacy. It's not too clean or overproduced, and “Unlighted Shadow” was literally recorded and stuck in the jewel case at the last minute for fans who had heard all else, says Yu.
If this is what Love Like Fire can do under the gun, I can't wait to see what they do with the time to make an LP. The self-published run of 1,000 is nearly sold out before its Aug. 28 release. -David Downs
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