First Responder are an indie rock band from Columbus, Ohio. They originated as the solo project of lead Sierra Mollenkopf, and its clear to see how this dynamic influences their songs. Take for example opening track ‘Hey Bud’, which builds from a gentle bedroom pop song, with cymbal-heavy percussion and quiet backing vocals, in to a relatively frenzied finale. Mollenkopf’s vocals are distinctive, swaying at the centre of the songs, her lyrics painting a picture of being forced apart from someone important.
“Saying goodnight has never been so hard
when you’re the sealant sealing water towers
now you’re gone and water starts it’s seepin’
wetting streets sending windshields swayin’
filling garden beds and gutters
maybe tomorrow there’ll be flowers”
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‘Rental Textbook’ is a lean indie pop song, the vocals again taking centre stage as Mollenkopf sings “I’m a rental textbook, and I was due last week”, before ‘Heavy Snow’ with its prominent bass line and constantly mashed background guitar. Finale ‘Tea Leaves’ is a fuzzy indie rocker, Mollenkopf”s voice quivering on a slightly higher plane then everything else.
Perhaps due to its origins as a solo bedroom work, the EP has a much stronger dark and emotional core than many indie rock records (see for example on ‘Rental Textbook’ – “And you don’t know a thing about me / a girl of clay that you can tweak / a vacant space for you to occupy / believing I am yours to keep”). The strength of First Responder as a band lies in how they elevate these themes rather than smother them. As Mollenkopf explained to The Grey Estates, “With the accompaniment of noise guitar and a full band the songs become less like diary entries, and more like lifelike dreams or visions of the past. Discussions of past abuse are tinged with hope, clarity found in retrospect, and can be summarized with the line ‘…maybe tomorrow there’ll be flowers’.”
In My Dreams My Windows Faced West is due for release on the 16th of December. Keep an eye on the First Responder Bandcamp page to grab it when it comes out.