First Nation – “First Nation ” – [Paw Tracks]

Thurston Hunger   8/17/2006   A Library, CD

Wispy gypsies, these three lasses out of Brooklyn. Light
ringing guitar tiptoes in and out of the mix, muffled or
often missing drums watch ’em come and go. Tweety flutes
breeze in at times. The tone overall here is very thin, and
that gets accentuated by the singing that comes across as a
shy infant kind of hum/singing to herself on a playground.
When the voices get doubled up, as on “Child’s Eyes” intro
they are stonger, more compelling. Not the Roches, but more
power in numbers. At other times, at least for me, the solo
voices would get blown away. Some of the guitar choices are
kind of puzzle-proggy, but again so clean and lithsome in tone,
still I think the fretful fretwork bodes well for a sophomore
state of the First Nation. Tack on more invigorated and
confident vocals (but pretty please still overlapping in their
birdsong fashion) will add a lot to this project. Live these
songs may take more flight. “You Can Be” almost taps an
Ethiopique group, while “Omen” make take a larger, darker
shape and well, be even more ominous in person. Promising…
-Thurston Hunger