Back in 2016 we introduced First Responder, the Columbus outfit led by Sierra Mollenkopf that evolved from a solo bedroom project into a full indie rock band. “Perhaps due to its origins,” we wrote, “[First Responder] has a much darker and emotional core than many indie rock records,” with the vulnerability of solo work coming through in the writing. However, the fuller sound also allowed them to transcend the tropes of the bedroom genre, pushing the personal into more interesting and evocative spaces so that it can be examined anew. “With the accompaniment of noise guitar and a full band,” Mollenkopf herself explained, “the songs become less like diary entries, and more like lifelike dreams or visions of the past.”
After the band took a hiatus while Mollenkopf finished grad school, this spring sees First Responder return with Courage, their debut full-length album. With new bassist Collin Geddis joining Cameron Carr (guitar) and Zayn Dweik (drums), the record develops what came before to find the perfect balance between intimacy and urgency. Mollenkopf’s soprano vocals are paired with instrumentation both mellow and driving, sometimes shifting from hesitant to jubilant and back again within the same song.
There’s a juxtaposition at the heart of the album’s themes too, Mollenkopf vacillating between uncertainty and empowerment in a quest for a fuller understanding of herself. There’s a backward-looking element to the lyrics but only in service of what is to come, as though by delving into the murky waters of the past one might be able clear the waters of the future to find purpose and meaning.
Today we’re delighted to share the third single, ‘Coney Island’. The song is positioned on the soft end of the First Responder spectrum and has something of a tidal rhythm, ebbing and flowing but always inching forwards. The lyrics are an ode to finding strength within yourself, and true to this idea the track gathers in intensity as it progresses, building step by step into something like conviction. There might not be any clear understanding in how or why we find the bravery to persevere, but there is belief in the fact that we can if only we persist.
Already know where I’m gonna go
When I dieI see it in my head
See it in my head
See it in my head each
nightDon’t know where, know where
This courage came from
Nowhere, Nowhere
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Courage is out on the 13th March and you can pre-order it from the First Responder Bandcamp page.
Photos by Julia Jeffers