Golden Hour

Ex-Cop Shoot Cop patrolman Tod A. continues his indefinable weirdness with Firewater's latest, a rousing but theatrical effort with entertainment and genre duplicity on the brain. It's no surprise Tod was inspired to craft THE GOLDEN HOUR during travels to Turkey and Indonesia, as tracks like "This Is My Life" contain hints of distinctly Middle Eastern instrumentation. In general, the Western hemisphere influences of jazz guitar, Tod's bluesy vocals and Latin horns and percussion mingle with elements that are foreign in contrast, but speak symbolically to music's universal malleability. That said, it is still the more thumping, dramatic, Spaghetti Western-meets mariachi overtones of "A Place Not So Unkind" that provide Firewater's most stirring moments.