*** The category ain’t quite right. That’s all I can say, as you know, they are watching. What I mean to say is, it’s not even close really. Well maybe it can be kind of close.***

One half of The Fireman is a producer known as Youth (who has worked with bands such as The Verve.) The other half was a member of a rather influential band in the 1960s. I was hoping for something in the vein of The Fireman’s last album, 1998′s Rushes as I think that’s a rather delicious album but then I realized that I’ve really long wanted to hear this melding of songwriting with experimental production & arrangement ideas from this particular gentleman.

One quite unusual thing about Electric Arguments is that apparently each of the 13 tracks was written and recorded in just one day. But these 13 days were spread out over the course of about a year.

It starts off with a heavy Led Zeppelinesque stomper called “Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight” which features a pretty spooky sounding vocal from Mr. McCartney. One of the really strange (and exciting) things about this album is just how strange McCartney’s voice sounds on a lot of these songs.

On “Two Magpies” (the second track) he sounds really old. He is 66 but he usually doesn’t quite sound as old as he actually is. On this song he sounds about 20 years older than that. I don’t mean this in a bad way at all. It’s a very effective approach. It lends the song a real intimacy and tenderness.

“Sing The Changes” reminds me of Flowers in the Dirt. It’s sort of a big U2ish triumphant sing along type track. If you’re worried that none of this sounds quite as weird as you were hoping for, don’t worry the album does get weirder as it goes along and the songs are all somehow just a bit stranger & more interesting than how I am describing them.

Remember what I said about strange vocals on this album? “Travelling Light” is one of the best examples of that. This is a pretty strange song that has sort of a Moody Blues vibe. I really love the delay effects towards the end of the song. Reminiscent of Pink Floyd.

I haven’t got into “Highway” yet as it seems a bit too conventional for what surrounds it. That being said it seems like a decent song.

“Light From Your Lighthouse” is probably the quirkiest song on the Electric Arguments and also arguably the most memorable. It’s sort of a country gospel done by Ween sort of ditty. Yes really.

“Sun Is Shining” has a very cool intro with the way the instruments weave together. There’s also a really beautiful buildup around 4 minutes although I do think the dynamics could been a bit better on the release. If there’s one big fault with this album it’s that it seems a bit messy at times. Like there could have been a bit more restraint in the mixing to bring out more dynamics.

“Sun Is Shining” pretty much perfectly describes the mood of this track. This is a “I’m on a beach and I’ve smoked a pipe and everything is ridiculously beautiful” sort of song.

“Dance ’till We’re High” kind of sounds like a Christmas song. In fact, is it a Christmas song? It’s pretty much ridiculously over the top catchy. In fact it sounds like it could actually be a radio hit if it were released as a single.

“Lifelong Passion” is a hard one for me to describe. It has a sort of new age world music vibe. If that description really makes you concerned well, I don’t think it’s quite right actually. This is one of the tracks I’m not sure if I like or not. I feel sort of like I shouldn’t like it, but I do. It’s good spaced out music.

“Is This Love” floats in with the sound of flutes. This is another song that’s hard to describe. It’s a really spaced out vibe that is felt more than heard. And it’s another song where McCartney’s vocals don’t really sound much like McCartney.

“Lovers In A Dream” may be the most Rushes type song on this album although it does feature vocals unlike the songs on Rushes it has a similarly dark atmosphere.

“Universal Here, Everlasting Now” continues on that dark atmosphere for the first couple of minutes before the drums come in around 2 minutes and the track does seem to turn into a bit of an electronic music cliche. But I think it sounds pretty good.

The album finishes out with track #13 “Don’t Stop Running.” Or does it? There’s a hidden track that comes in at nearly 8 minutes after a couple of minutes of silence. This hidden track is a lovely bit of psychedelic ear candy. Designed first and foremost for melting brains.

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