Time is on his side: Fires of Denmark on "Relativity," Riverside concert
Apr. 9—With a Riverside Concerts gig and a song feature/free download of the album's second single both coming Wednesday, it's time to unwind the secrets of Fires of Denmark's latest project: "Relativity."
Musician Mike Terrill released "Start Living Outside of Time" nearly a year ago, when the pandemic (and subsequent lockdown) made it an extremely timely message.
"Relativity," to be released in full this autumn, takes that theme and runs with it to the extreme.
"It just winds in and out constantly with the concept of time," Terrill said. "It has this beat going through it to keep that momentum of time, and we play with stretching out time and messing with the songs — it's so fun."
"There's so many Easter eggs in the new album," he added.
A pause.
"I got bored during coronavirus."
It makes sense for "Relativity" to be Fires of Denmark's most complex project —it started two-and-a-half years ago.
A small group of musicians had gotten together and written the first several songs then. Pretty quickly, they realized they had a concept album in the making — the song titles themselves formed a kind of poem.
"Time Will Wear You Down." "It Goes On." "And It Never Ends" (that upcoming second single, featuring Gina Marie from My Grandma's Cardigan). So what else is there to do, but "Start Living Outside of Time?"
That first half of the album would have been an EP, if not for the pandemic. But the past year called for a more contemplative, expansive approach to the music. In October, Terrill and company rented a Frank Lloyd Wright house and recorded twenty-something songs, which Terrill "harvested" and edited into the dreamy final mix.
"It took a long time for me to pick," he said. "But man, I'm really happy with how it flows right now."
The album shifts between groovy, bass-heavy tunes to dreamy, distorted synth. But the throughline is clear.
"Really what it is, is just kind of taking a moment to realize that time is a standard thing — we have all experienced that time can stretch, can contrast. And we can lose time in any sort of way," Terrill said. "It's almost like a kind of a call to action with that 'start living outside of time' ... and after that happens, it really does get looser and more drifty and you have the opportunity kind of just like lose yourself in that time of it."
The Riverside Concerts livestream Wednesday also promises to take viewers out of themselves for a little while — thanks to Terrill's "Zoom fatigue," he's planned something "unique and cinematic, with a little bit of surrealism."
"We're gonna go for more of a kind of like music-movie kind of thing as we play," he said. Think dramatic lights, "set design stuff, two little secrets" — and a new stage character, a burnt-out, Vegas-singer type with an incredible jacket.
There are a few crumbs to snap up after the concert and current feature — "And It Never Ends" will stream everywhere Friday — and look for a music video (filmed at the Frank Lloyd Wright house) in May. It's likely that Terrill will release "Time Will Wear You Down" in the summer or early fall, to give listeners another piece of the concept.
"I'm so proud and excited about this one that I want to do it right," he said.
And stay tuned — Fires of Denmark recently signed to Lazerbeak of the Doomtree collective for management.
If You Go
What: Fires of Denmark
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 14
Where: Virtual, streamed from the Historic Chateau Theater (watch on the Riverside Concerts Facebook or YouTube page)
Cost: Free
More Information: Check out The Current on April 14 for a feature of "And It Never Ends," the latest single by Fires of Denmark.
