Album: Forest Fire, Survival, (Broken Sounds)

Some bands, you feel, work out what they want to sound like and then strive to capture the idea they have in their head.

Others learn to play, go into a room and see what comes out. The New Yorkbased Forest Fire unquestionably fall into the latter category. And while off-key brass interludes may not be to everyone’s taste, when things fall into place, which they frequently do, Survival comes on like Smog’s take on the Velvet Underground. Who knows what they’d sound like if they really tried.