Album Details

• Artist: Mouse Fire
• Album: Wooden Teeth
• Label: Lujo
• Year of Release: 2007
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: soundaslanguage on 2008-02-04

Media

It seems as though there are a lot of great indie bands coming on the scene from Florida lately. Well, add another to the list with Lakeland's Mouse Fire. Wooden Teeth is the band's debut. Mouse Fire play an enticing brand of indie rock similar to a less angular Minus The Bear perhaps. The smooth vocals of Joey Bruce are backed up by a band who knows their way around the block. Instrumentally, Mouse Fire are a cut above the rest as the band is seemingly miles ahead of bands twice their age. The band's arrangements are superb as they are quite adept at changing tempos and dynamics within their songs. Mood-wise, Wooden Teeth falls into a trap though. There is some noticeable repetition here as the band seemingly stays within their element for most of Wooden Teeth. The mood rarely changes and that hinders Wooden Teeth slightly. On future efforts, it would be helpful for the band to break out of their comfort zone a little more and push the envelope in different directions. The talent is certainly there for all to see on Wooden Teeth. What the band does with it will certainly be interesting in the coming years. For now though, Wooden Teeth is an impressive debut from a young band that has got plenty of style.

Review courtesy of Sound As Language

User Reviews and Comments

Review:

on 2009-05-06 muddyfish_uk Said:

Mouse Fire sit on the same roster as the rather exciting 'Look Mexico'. Both reside in Florida, USA and both draw comparisons with the Seattle based Minus the Bear. Mouse Fire however, are slightly different. Their sound will sit equally as comfortably with emo fans as followers of the before mentioned bands due to the smooth nature of the vocal delivery and the more straightforward compositions the band produces. Simply put, Mouse Fire demand less from the listener than the math rock of say, Minus the Bear. This allows the listener to concentrate more on the emotion conveyed within the songs.

Whilst discussing the vocals it should be noted that they really do stand out on this album. Joey Bruce knows how to work his voice so as to maximise the overall impact of the instrumentation and his lyrics are just interesting enough to keep you hooked and humming once the album is over.

'Wooden Teeth' is an accomplished debut and won't disappoint fans of Look Mexico and Minus the Bear and may even appeal to fans of more mainstream rock acts operating today. The album has lots of good moments and although the songs are unlikely to grab you and scream 'analyse me'; neither will they slip by the wayside or go unnoticed. A good honest debut with heaps of potential.
Rating: 8/10