It Chooses You is the 6th album by Fir Cone Children who are the project that Alexander Donat of Vlimmer started with the intention of making music for his kids at the rate of an album a year.
The opening song The Age Of New Biedermaier Featuring Jackie Kasbohm opens with ambient noises before the cacophonous entry of the rest of the band, the almost buried vocals that give this a shoegazing goth feel to it, with some blast beat drumming almost nailing those kids to the wall, next to the families treasured Biedermaier dresser, as once more they hear the story of the families survival of the Napoleonic wars, no the songs lyrics aren't about that, it just provokes those thoughts in me.
Knees In The Sand featuring Krissy Vanderwoude is music for a space age beach party as you knees are buried in the sand wondering just why she's crying set against some very 80's synth sounds and a narrator who comes and goes making sure you get up off your knees before the tide sweeps you away.
Turtle Stone sounds like they have walked across the sand and have found a couple of rock pool and are staring at the clear water trying to work out if they are looking at another stone or a sleeping turtle as the guitars and synths glisten in the sun light.
Cereals & Confidence is about offering your kids that third Weetabix or an extra bowl of rice Krispies in the hope that they will then bend to your will and be a pleasure to be around all day long, or at least until they get hungry again, as the swirling background makes sure you are no longer afraid of the Honey Monster but instead embrace the cereal he offers you.
Meadow Orchard featuring Krissy Vanderwoude feels like you are walking though a magical Meadow towards an orchard that is full of fruit that you hope is ripe enough to pick and eat as part of that day's picnic lunch and that the almost rumbling thunder sounds are not a sign that a storm is coming and that you'll avoid getting ill.
Skate On, Marz is pretty frantic with a wild bass and blasting drums like you've just done your first somersault on a half-pipe and had a little spill on landing but have just got back up to carry on skating with a huge grin on your face as your friends cheer you on to greater skating feats.
Foals Featuring Jackie Kasbohm sounds almost like they are watching the Foals being birthed rather than getting to be the first kids who get to ride on a young foal as it slowly canters around the countryside.
Paint The Streets is the sort of suggestion my dad would have come up with, as a way to get some peace and quiet, never mind we lived on a main road, go out there and paint that street and let me nod out in peace. This has synths that almost feel like the rushing traffic and a sense of yearning for better times.
Danish Dynamite is not the sound of exploding rashers of bacon more like exploding pastries with jam squirting out the sides as you bite into it and synths that sound like they come from a 1980's Danish horror movie.
The album closes with Slide Into Uncertain Times that's a cool and slightly unnerving way of explaining the pandemic times we are living through to kids under the age of 8, as the hope for a more certain future seem to be at the core of both this song and the album.
Find out more at www.blackjackilluministrecords.bandcamp.com
https://blackjackilluministrecords.bandcamp.com/album/it-chooses-you https://www.facebook.com/FirConeChildren
