One of the real joys of following Fir Cone Children for so long is hearing how Alexander Donat keeps finding fresh pages to add to this family songbook. When I first spent time with the project around Waterslide at 7am, the songs thrived on close observation, turning school days, pets, games and little household scenes into bright guitar led pieces full of joy. By the time you reached Today There’s No Tomorrow and The Urge To Overtake Time, the pace had sharpened and a little more shade had begun to pass through the writing. Then came Jig of Glee, ‘Your Voice’, and ‘Gearshifting’, where his daughters were older, the emotions carried more weight, and Donat let his own point of view sit more openly in the songs.
That whole history flows beautifully into the next chapter of the Fir Cone Children story with ‘St Vincent’. This single feels like the next natural phase because whilst the family thread is still right at the centre, now the child who inspired the songs steps up to the microphone and joins the song.
Donat explains a bit of the back story for us.
“The song was inspired by a concert I took my first daughter to see. We saw St. Vincent and her band on their ‘All Born Screaming’ tour in Berlin. It was my 12-year-old’s very first rock concert. Since she’d been listening to St. Vincent CDs in her bedroom since she was only six or seven, this show held special significance; it wasn’t just any band on stage. Seeing the sparkle in my daughter’s eyes was fantastic.”
Let’s hit play and head to the gig.
Musically, ‘St Vincent’ carries plenty of the traits that have made this project such a fixture on Static Sounds Club over the years. The guitar arrives coated in fuzz, while the wider synth wash gives the track that open, airy feeling Donat does so well. This is the gaziest I’ve heard FCC. Then the voices come in. Father and daughter in perfect harmony. Donat sings with his familiar mix of warmth and urgency, while Liisu brings a gentler touch that changes the whole colour of the song. Her voice gives the track a fresh lift and, for those of us who have followed Fir Cone Children through so many releases, there is something deeply moving in hearing that new family voice come through. When the chorus opens out, man, the whole thing rises. It soars! You get the rush of a first rock show, the glow of a shared memory and the slight daze that follows a night that changes you a little.
What gives ‘St Vincent’ its real emotional impact for me is where it sits in the bigger Fir Cone Children story. ‘Your Voice’ gave us Alexander as the father looking on, full of nerves, pride and love. ‘St Vincent’ is the next step in that journey. Laila is no longer only the spark for the song. She’s core to its sound, part of its feeling, part of the future of this little universe Donat has been building for years. As the opener for the next album, it points toward a record that could bring even more closeness, more family detail and more heart without losing that fuzzy melodic rush that makes Fir Cone Children feel so alive. After all these years, Donat still knows how to keep this project fresh. With Liisu beside him, ‘St Vincent’ is the sweetest fruit!
‘St Vincent’ is out now via Blackjack Illuminist Records. Make sure you follow their Bandcamp page. The next Fir Cone Children album is due for an 8th May release. This will be album number twelve for the project and its title is Vs. The Real World.
You can follow Fir Cone Children on social media here…
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