LoveLikeFire

Bed of Gold

(Self-Released)

Record Review by Amber Henson

EPs are a funny thing because you only get a limited amount of songs to show off what you’re all about.  In LoveLikeFire’s case, there are only six songs on Bed of Gold to let you know what they got goin’ on—and a mere two of those songs cater to what they seem to do really well:  carefree indie punk/pop.  The rest is devoted to their other sound, which is kind of downbeat and full of minor tones, sometimes a little like Morrissey.  Altogether, it makes a great record, but I hope that the first two punk songs are the direction they take for their next album.

Before I go into further description, let me say that LoveLikeFire are huge Anglophiles.  Now, I was told this on the press release, but I could have figured it out just by listening the album and then finding out that they are not, in fact, English.  Their punk songs sound like The Bluetones, and lead singer Ann Yu’s voice is so beautifully husky, she sounds almost like Mark Morriss at times.  The other four tracks sound like Catatonia by way of the Cranberries, if they were more rocking and less depressing.

The rest of the band, all guys, are David Farrell on drums, Theodore Parker on guitar, and Jesse Hayes on bass, (all of them do a bunch of other stuff, but these are their main deals), and they work in harmony with Yu, backing her up, but not getting lost behind her low, whispery voice that comes across strongly.  I have to say, I love this trend of men backing up lady singers.  I can hardly remember the day when one tried to think of bands led by females and could only come up with “No Doubt” and “that Irish band.”