Record Review: The Fire Next Time by Jonathan Vassar and the Speckled Bird

Title: The Fire Next Time
Artist: Jonathan Vassar and the Speckled Bird
Author: Shannon Cleary
Date: October 16, 2009

Prior to the release of The Fire Next Time, Jonathan Vassar was simply a student of the folk genre. His reexamination of clichés that riddled his chosen medium allowed him to better understand how to improve his craft. With this new EP, Vassar is playing by his own set of rules and the resulting songs are epic in tone.
The Fire Next Time is a fair testament to the way Vassar and the Speckled Bird sound in a live environment. While their last release The Hours and The Days worked as a reintroduction of the artist, the accompaniment of additional players didn’t work in Vassar’s favor. One of Vassar’s strengths is that he develops an understanding of a song to the point of acknowledging what instrumentation best suits the song. With the Speckled Bird, he has achieved that understanding and he has the perfect backing band to modestly flesh out his tales of the melancholy.

It’s tough to say if this was intended, but the songs on The Fire Next Time work best in pairs.
In two particular instances, “Nearer My Father’s Wounded Side” could easily be two separate parts that build towards a fantastic finale and “A Match Made in Heaven” as well as “You Do Too” compliment each other incredibly well. In the former, Antonia FD Vassar’s operatic voice sets a tone for the EP as a whole. In these first moments, the tone being set is a way for the listener to reference the landscape that the album takes place in. This part of the song could have very easily acted as it’s own track, but for this release it is attached as part of “Nearer My Father’s Wounded Side.” After the establishment of this setting, Jonathan’s subtle guitar picking takes over and as soon as the warm tones of his voice arrive, the listener is where he wants them to be. The finale of the song is easily one of the most powerful refrains Vassar has conjured up to this point in his career.

The other two songs in question both revolve around fledgling relationships. Perhaps that is why Vassar decided to include “A Match Made in Heaven” on this release, despite the fact the song originates from 2001. This new recording brings the song new life. By having Antonia re-exhibit her vocal saw abilities along with the closing harmonies between Jonathan and Chris Edwards, you couldn’t tell that the song is eight years old. It fits well beside the subtle nuances of “You Do Too” in helping close out this strong release. It should be dually noted that the addition of Joshua Quarles to the Speckled Bird is best realized during his clarinet solo in “You Do Too.” For in this moment, the presence of Quarles’ musicianship brings the band into new territory and helps strengthen the structures for this collection of songs.
Vassar is known for his prolific sensibilities when he approaches songwriting. In a perfect world, time would not be limited to the finite and Vassar would have all of the time in the world to record every song he could possibly conceive. Unfortunately, there are just not enough minutes in the day to make this possible. Fortunately for us though, Vassar is an astute, thoughtful writer that takes the art of compressing short stories into songs and gives it an intrinsic value.
The Fire Next Time is a wonderful release that leaves any fan eager to hear what Vassar and his Speckled Birds have in store for us next.