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Melted Medium

by firestations

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Limited edition hand-stamped CD-R in card wallet, with instructions on "How To Make Phantom Fire" and "Phantom Fire" sticker.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Melted Medium via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    edition of 50 

      £10 GBP or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £6 GBP  or more

     

  • Limited Edition Art Collection and CDr
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    We have 25 collections of special artwork editions, created/curated by band member and visual artist Laura Copsey, that expand on the ideas in the songs. With this super limited edition version, as well as hand-stamped CD-R in card wallet and download, you get:

    - a firestations brand (tm) "Maximum Reality Matchbox" with totem pole design
    - A5 "Phantom Fire" giclee print by Emma Harry (www.emmaharry.com)
    - A5 "How To Make Phantom Fire" instructions (including QR code for bonus track download)
    - a fire sticker
    - coated pine cones that change the very colour of fire

    Includes unlimited streaming of Melted Medium via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

1.
No private space So where do we go when we need to hide Run away Get away from our past lives Catch a train Across a border in the rain We're so far away it's clear But still so near But this house is where we go When we don't want to be alone Though the walls are closing in They won't turn us into stone Oh no Behind these walls They don't notice us at all Different stories with harsher consequences You make the right moves You dance like you've got nothing left to lose The wilderness will call you out And quiet is the new loud But this house is where we go When we don't want to be alone Though the walls are closing in They won't turn us into stone Oh no
2.
This memory state This memory shadow We thought we had escaped Into a new tipping point With a humble reservoir The energy building up for years and years The circular is here We have to change we won't make it last any other way Goodbye to the linear equation We have to change we won't make it last any other way The wheel spins Through fragile villages Waiting for the weather to shift In a race to the bottom rung Left out in the summer sun Bleached out disintegrating The circular is here We have to change we won't make it last any other way Goodbye to the linear equation We have to change we won't make it last any other way We have to change we won't make it last any other way
3.
All that was simple was false All that was complex was unusable Unusable We built this construct of rock and bone Now we hold it together So you’re never alone You’re never alone We’re working on A map of a map Of a map of a map Of a map of a map This composite image It makes no sense So we tear up the pieces Nothing’s ever forgotten We’ve got the blueprints But we forgot where they’re from Just hang them on the wall Now it’s one to one and we’re nearly gone Still working on A map of a map Of a map of a map Of a map of a map
4.
The beginning is still playing You can tune in when you like There's no ending We're just looping You can join in anytime To the beginning (Oh to the end) To the beginning (Oh to the end) Watch the ants on widescreen Zooming in Self oscillating On this river we're just rolling I am the river You are the river We're picking up stray signals Endless echoes Getting closer little by little To where we were supposed to go Back to the beginning (Oh to the end) The beginning (Oh to the end) On this river we're just rolling I am the river You are the river We're picking up stray signals Endless echoes Getting closer little by little To where we were supposed to go Back to the beginning (Oh to the end) The beginning (Oh to the end)
5.
Mes rêves se brisent Un coup de tête Une petite île Et une promesse Sur une mer qui se noircit La clef des songes La fin du monde Cesse-donc de m'attendre Donne-moi mon scaphandre Sous la mer Mes yeux plongent très loin dans la nuit Tu me hantes Les heures passées avec toi se réduisent Et le couvercle se referme Le futur est parfois rose C'est toujours la même chose ! Les problèmes changent Je tourne la page Les grains de sable L'océan râle Donne-moi mon scaphandre Sous la mer Mes yeux plongent très loin dans la nuit Tu me hantes Les heures passées avec toi se réduisent Et le couvercle se referme Le futur est parfois rose C'est toujours la même chose ! Cesse-donc de m'attendre Donne-moi mon scaphandre...
6.
Go ahead and take a look And I’ll be waiting around the corner They put the glasses on your face Won’t let you wait any longer Lead me off into the distance Wake me up when we get there Give me a window on the process And just run me around and round until I find A new device Honestly this is the worst And you believe the best is coming Now little eyes are waking up And it’s over and over and over again Lead me off into the distance Wake me up when we get there Give me a window on the process And just run me around and round until I find A new device

about

Melted Medium is the second instalment in a trilogy of three EPs, which make up the Automatic Tendencies project.

It follows the release last November of the Automatic Tendencies EP, and its acclaimed single ‘Small Island’, which garnered praise and multiple plays from BBC Radio 6 Music’s Marc Riley (“a perfect pop song”), as well as support from Gideon Coe and Cerys Matthews. The EP featured on 2020 end of year lists by For The Rabbits’ (“ambitious, articulate and really rather wonderful”) and God Is In The TV (“dream-pop provocateurs – beatifically serene and summery, although with an improbable, noonday shadow”).

Each EP embraces a mixtape aesthetic, including alternative “sunken” versions by the band as well as covers and remixes of new Firestations tracks by other artists. Band member and artist Laura Copsey is curating collections of limited-edition artworks that expand on the ideas within each release, and the lead track from each project is released as part of Lost Map’s Postmap Club subscription series (including exclusive B-sides).

Since their last album The Year Dot (Lost Map Records, 2018), Firestations have refined their brand of conceptual alt-pop, and new songs take a closer look at themes of identity, belonging, progress and escapism. ‘The Circular’ is a motorik earworm in praise of revisionism, and exploring, uncovering and owning the past, rather than accepting mythologised versions (“the circular is here – we have to change, we won’t make it last any other way”). The first track ‘Outpost Index’ is an indie-disco stomp about the loneliness of successive lockdowns, yet is ultimately hopeful for the future. The most meditative song in the collection ‘Low Ratio (Sunken Version)’ is inspired by Jorge Luis Borges’ ideas about the map-territory relation and ponders the absurdity of forgetting the importance of the bigger picture (“a map of a map of a map of a map of a map...”). Track four ‘Stray Signals’ is a warm weather pop song about how time is a human construct, and how the beginning is still with us today.

For the cover version on this collection, the band asked Lost Map label mate Clémentine March to create a French-language version of ‘Small Island’, which she titled ‘Le Scaphandre’. The idea behind the cover is to add to the original’s message of inclusivity and offer a playful new escape plan. Clémentine says: “Instead of trying to literally translate the lyrics, I worked on sound consonances between the two languages. ‘Scaphandre’ means ‘diving suit’, and I wanted to write a joyful absurdist sea tale. I recorded the song in a gleeful early autumn near Epping Forest, with Michael's precious help.” The last track is a trance remix of ‘New Device’ by Dreamtrak (a.k.a. Oli Horton). Originally a laid-back dream-pop number on the first EP, Oli has turned it into a dance-floor monster.

ABOUT THE AUTOMATIC TENDENCIES ART COLLECTIONS:

Each EP is linked to a classical element – Automatic Tendencies was water, Melted Medium is fire, Pixel Wilderness will be earth – and in this art collection we explore the grey area between reality and illusion, and the power of imagination. The collection springs from an interest in evolution and anthropology – how the sound, smell and image of fire can have a profound physiological impact – often creating a sense of home. We all have a primal instinct towards fire, and continue to be mesmerised by it, as we will never truly master it. Starting as an ironic joke about the trend for fake fires on YouTube, Laura began to experiment with the senses and how far reality could be altered in an absurdist quest to overcome the reality of nature; questioning whether experiences need to be real in order to have meaning.

The contents of the limited-edition art collection are fragments of some of these ideas - pine cones that change the colour of fire, "maximum reality matches", a giclee print of an altered flame by illustrator Emma Harry, and instructions for how to create your own "phantom fire" experience.

credits

released March 5, 2021

Music by firestations
Recorded at home and Otterhead Studios
Mixed by Mike Cranny
Mastered by Antony Ryan at RedRedPaw Mastering
Art by Laura Copsey and Emma Harry

license

all rights reserved

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about

firestations UK

We are a band.

We write alt-pop songs and then mess them up.

New album 'Thick Terrain' OUT NOW

linktr.ee/firestations

“Melancholy tempered by shimmering shoegaze stylings... a wistful delight.” Electronic Sound Magazine

“Firestations present that sense of worldly vulnerability in synth-driven glimpses of the sublime.” ★★★★ THE LIST

(Photo by Katherine Leedale)
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