Electric Arguments

Paul McCartney revives The Fireman project

The Fireman is the name of a project created early in the 1990s by Paul McCartney together with producer Martin Glover also known as Youth in which the musicians experimented with the electronic genre. In 1993 their first album Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest was released and five years later the sophomore effort Rushes also saw the light of the day. The two works of The Fireman were characterized with unusual sounding combining various and most interesting audio effects and the absence of distinct vocal parts. Yet ten more years have passed during which sir Paul has launched some more projects and this year he has decided to revive The Fireman. Within one year Youth and the last one of The Beatles have recorded a new material, all in all during 13 days devoting exactly one day for each song. The result is their third album Electric Arguments on which McCartney’s vocals sound for the first time and the electronic elements have given place to most various styles. The music on Electric Arguments of The Fireman is remarkable for mood diversity, deserves all praise as the creation of talented musicians and will surely give a lot of pleasant moments.

Folk, blues, rock and even pop style on Electric Arguments

The album Electric Arguments is completely different from the previous works of The Fireman not only because of the vocal parts that have enliven these complicated multilevel compositions but also for this being not a collection of electronic music but real experiments with folk, blues, rock and even pop style. Accordingly each track is characterized by a certain mood, although the dominating is a mixture of melancholia, optimism and psychedelic. The album opens with a harmonica chord on an emotional and a bit heavy blues composition Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight, on which McCartney’s vocals combine greatly with powerful guitars, especially with the solo in the middle of the song. A much more softer and the shortest piece on the album Two Magpies surprises with a beautiful tune and unusual effects while a changeable song Sing The Changes first conquers with some crying guitars and then gets a little more joyful due to lively singing and drums. There are a few songs on the record over five minutes long each of them being interesting in its own way: faultless vocals and a measured arrangement please on Traveling Light, Sun Is Shining surprises with a simple acoustic guitar on the accompaniment, a contagious rhythm and memorable chorus and bright and very beautiful Lifelong Passion proves to be the record’s most complicated track. Fantastic sounds refine Lovers In A Dream, an utterly surrealistic song and the album closer is the longest (over 10 minutes) many-faceted piece Don't Stop Running, on which New Age meets the classic rock elements.

Paul McCartney really knows how to work with the styles

At the end of the last century when the electronic genre only started to gain momentum Paul McCartney who is so fond of performing using false names made use of The Fireman technically hiding under the project’s mask in order to try something new without much risk for his own image. Today when nobody gets surprised by experiments the album of The Fireman is released already with a direct reference to McCartney which cannot be said about the first two records. This time the singer and the producer have really given themselves full swing and created a collection of unique music sounding peaceful or worrisome but always beautiful. You will not find any eclectic tracks on Electric Arguments except for the first one, and the album itself is meant for a more reserved listener who prefers to contemplate. Then again, this record contains a multitude of unexpected changes in melody, sounds of unexplainable origin and musical themes within one composition. It is very probable that Electric Arguments will attract new fans to Paul McCartney’s creative work for he has shown his new side on this album, that of a bold musician and author who really knows how to work with the styles.