Peshtigo & the Fires - Cicada EP

Peshtigo & the Fires

Cicada EP
​self-released; 2016

3.5 out of 5

By Andrew Westberry

Hailing from the west coast in Cottage Grove, Oregon, Jack Peshtigo is the sole member of Peshtigo & the Fires, a truly innovative musical project that seeks to encourage creativity and invention through the music itself and through alternative means during live shows. The Circada EP serves as a platform for Pestigo to reach out to collaborative musicians and to promote his vision of unconventional art forms convening into a holistic, multi-sensory experience.

The album begins with “Red Gothic Lantern,” a steadily plodding electronic piece with a delicate strength accentuated by buffeting drums and a droning electric guitar that gradually focuses its sound from ambient to piercing as the song progresses. Peshtigo lends his vocals to the mix in a hushed, slightly slurred manner that brings an otherworldly aura to the song.

A pulsating synthesizer riff starts “Molta” with anticipatory notes before the full-fledged soundscape enters with Peshtigo’s singing, a tropical-infused percussion set and various spacey noises from guitars and synths. The unconventional tones continue in “Persephone’s Rise” although this track incorporates a few traditional song structures, such as power chords and straight beats into the blend.

“Greenshine” opens with transcendent synthesizer chords, pounding drums and highly modulated guitar and horn tones that propel the tune higher and higher in energy and volume as the song continues towards its apex around the two-and-a-half-minute mark before falling slowly into silence. Slowing down a bit, “Articulate a Pulse” is a simple song revolving around melodious vocals and a lightly strummed guitar.

​The energy picks back up in the club beat-tinged “Forest Gumption,” a particularly danceable song that is based on a catchy synthesizer riff that is repeated and overlayed by various drum beats and melodies and harmonies. The EP finds its end with “Wolphkomet,” a reflective piece that demonstrates the more aesthetic, pastel side of Peshtigo & the Fires while also highlighting the raw energy that Peshtigo brings to his music. As arguably the best track on the record, “Wolphkomet” is but one of seven masterful songs that prove Peshtigo’s tasteful understanding of multiple lines of styles and techniques that combine into a genuinely enjoyable experience.

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