There’s something magical about the freedom of an artist’s first album, when a few singles may have sketched the outlines of their sound but the colors have yet to be filled in. Maryland-raised, classically trained Matthew Hemerlein, a.k.a. Lo-Fang, works his newcomer’s advantage to the fullest on Blue Film, pairing his own orchestration (he plays six instruments, including cello and violin) with a sensuously prickly electronic atmosphere, once again of his own creation. And smack-dab in the middle of the emotional range of hauntingly beautiful sounds and just-plain-haunting lyrics that characterize the record comes the sinewy, falsetto-driven groove of “When We’re Fire.”
Opening with hazy distortion and a racing heartbeat of a synth, “When We’re Fire” is defined predominately by its inexorable pulse and silky, building atmospherics. Even while the listener revels in the combination of Lo-Fang’s smooth-as-butter vocals and velvety musicality, a thread of tension winds through the piece. Like the rest of Blue Film, then, “When We’re Fire” paints a pastoral scene just darkened by the shadow of an approaching wolf. As a listener, you will delight in both this song’s beauty and its chill. And there’s a good chance you’ll never want it to end.