Between Two Fires was an obscure New Jersey band that
released two records that were completely different from each other. Originally
a four-piece, the band self-released a 12”EP in 1987 in very limited
quantities. In true DIY fashion, it came in a plain die-cut sleeve with the
band’s name stickered on the front. The second 12” came out a few years later
and was also self-released, in a plain sleeve with a very well-done silkscreened
front and back sleeve (shades of Eleven Pond, perhaps?) The songs on the band’s
debut are mid-tempo synthpop tracks with female vocals. The songs sound a bit
influenced by the poppier aspects of groups like the Human League and Berlin,
with layers of synthesizers and female vocals. While the songs sometimes betray
their age with the glittering polished sound of a lot of bands from that era
(well, at least as polished as a low-budget DIY band can get), it’s quite an
enjoyable record. "No Reason" is a solid song, with airy synth lines
anchored by deep bass playing that echoes the Cure or New Order. The mellow “In
Your Arms” is my favourite, with its layers of tribal drumming and percussion,
subdued but effective bass and guitars, and vocals that are melancholy and
entirely hypnotic.
After the debut was released, the band suffered from
internal strife and two of the four members left - the bassist and the vocalist
& chief songwriter. Such a change would undo virtually all other bands, but
the two remaining members soldiered on, with the lead guitarist assuming the
song writing duties. The duo expanded threefold, and as a sextet they recorded
one final record, the confusingly titled Dirk and the Mercenaries (confusing,
because that seems more apt as a band name, and the front cover even seems to
indicate that).
The band’s second 12” was self-released in 1990 and aside
from a similar style of bass playing; it sounds virtually nothing like the
first release. Both tracks are six-to-seven minute opuses, and they looked
toward Europe - especially France and the UK - for a pretty big stylistic
deviation. Along with fellow New Jersey band Screaming for Emily the B-side of
this record is some of the best “touching pop” style coldwave released in the
USA. It’s as if the band locked themselves in a room for a year with nothing
but the Lively Art catalogue to keep them company. The track “Ghost Dance”
starts off with a Native American war dance yell sampled from an obscure 70s
Western film before kicking into a mid-tempo coldwave song that combines the
repetitive drum machines and rhythms of Shadow-era Iron Curtain with melodic
but noisy guitars almost completely isolated on the right speaker channel and
perfectly dark vocals with a slightly British affectation. While this song does
go on a bit longer than necessary without developing too much, the B-side
“Sand” is the band’s true masterpiece and even at seven-plus minutes it feels
like it’s over too soon. Everything about this song is absolutely wonderful;
from the atmospheric synths to the quick-paced drums and drum machines to the
guitar riffs and the perfectly melancholy vocals.
A quick Internet search turns up absolutely nothing about
the band’s debut record (aside from the songs posted on youtube by the band’s
original bassist and the background info about the band). This truly seems to
be one of those completely lost bands. Hopefully with this post they will
belatedly find a little bit of much-deserved recognition.