Quest For Fire
(Tee Pee)
Hailing from the bustling music scene of Toronto but perhaps having more in common with the likes of Vancouver's Black Mountain or the Montreal-based Constellation Recs collective, Quest For Fire specializes in a cortex-shearing brand of heavy psychedelia that never really goes out of style, poking its head out of the cave from time to time, then, after thumping its chest and roaring mightily, going back underground. Think late ‘60s Floyd and late ‘80s Spacemen 3, or Nebula during the ‘90s and recent seismic activity from the Warlocks and Brian Jonestown Massacre camps.
Already there have been critical musings along the lines of "stoner rock" as regards for Quest For Fire. That may be partially accurate. The band does indulge the occasional sludgy trudge, as in the dreamy "You Are Always Loved" and the 9-minute, Sabbath-like "Hawk That Hunts the Walking." Although it should be noted that both songs have such striking melodic components it's also apropos to apply a label like "Hendrixian" or, per the above ref, "Spacemen 3-like": the former tune wouldn't have been out of place among the lush dronescapes of S3's The Perfect Prescription, while the latter, with its aquatic riffing and interstellar overtones, brings to mind Jimi H's "1983 (A Merman I Shall Turn To Be)".
Plus, when the band plows into the irresistible modified boogie of "Strange Waves" - which gets this month's award for Best Subtle Deployment Of Harmonica In A Rock Song, and features a series of riffs that are alternately jangly and searing - or unleashes the cinematic, tremolo-strafed "Next To the Fire" and gradually hoists aloft a la the MC5's "Starship" and "Black To Comm," each tune clocking in at more than 7 minutes to boot, the listener will be doing anything but sitting back and passively sucking on the bong. Strapping on the nearest jetpack and following Quest For Fire into the cosmos is more like it.
Featuring former members of the Cursed, No No Zero and eccentric garage terrorists the Deadly Snakes, Quest For Fire clearly has the chops to push their vision well beyond the perceived parameters of stoner rock, and Quest For Fire is without a doubt one of 2009's most impressive debuts to date. THIS is the kinda guit-psych your mama warned you about, kids. Get damaged.
Standout Tracks: "Strange Waves," "Next To the Fire" FRED MILLS
Quest for Fire is currently doing an East Coast-Midwest tour with Pink Mountaintops. Dates at their MySpace page: www.myspace.com/questforfireband
