Firemaid - "Food for Fodder"

Firemaid's "Food for Fodder" does a fabulous job of playing around with a huge expanse of white space - it reminds me of walking through a high-ceilinged art museum. (And Steely Dan, too). Every element is thrown into sharp relief, as if it had been drawn with a fine pen, or one of Donald Trump's pubic hairs, dipped in ink, on the tip. Case in point: the scattered bouquets of bell-like synths, not dissimilar to those in Alabama Shakes' "Sound & Color;" both are mysterious and welcoming. Or the vivid drums. Or Kaila Bacé's perfectly-mixed vocals, built around a sweet melody but containing immense depth.

The directness of her lyrics remind me of Fantastic Negrito; both Oakland artists are willing to tackle heavy-duty questions of identity and purpose with an earnestness that most indie-rock musicians would avoid like the plague, or hugging Betsy DeVos. To me it sounds like the song is about not letting go of the dream of playing music, specifically. And sure, even though Forbes recently rated San Francisco as "the second-best city to be a musician in 2018" (after Austin), one could make the argument that the Bay gobbles artistic dreams like Scott Pruitt crushes the skulls of endangered animals (at a high rate. and exuberantly). Bacé's commitment to frankness more than pays off; it compels us to take a look in the mirror.