Field Mouse

“I often like my rock to be crafty: guitar shrieks in just the right place, lyrics poetic and memorable, drums essential and primal and a singer with soul and surprises.
That pretty much describes Firehorse.”
- Bob Boilen, NPR Music

Firehorse is the winsome outfit of “sultry singer and free-spirited songwriter”(New Yorker)Leah Siegel. The NYC group will deliver their sophomore release, Pills From Strangers on June 25.

Blackbook recently debuted the first cut from the album, “Good” declaring, "Launching with seasick electronics and Siegel’s immediately arresting voice, 'Good' moves onto a punchy organ backdrop that’s like a groove from Stereolab." With it’s hasty off-beat-pop-shuffle and alluring chorus of ‘Never was a good girl,” the enigmatic track shows growth in Siegel's songwriting without sacrificing her pop sensibilities.

Pills From Strangers is the follow-up to the widely acclaimed, And so they ran faster…. The LA Times lauded the debut album’s, “adventurous orchestral pop arrangements” and Time Magazine called it, “a striking mix of catchy vocals, manipulated beats and hypnotic flourishes.”

Extensive praise continued from NPR Music, The Wall Street Journal, Time Out NY, The L Magazine and countless others along with airplay from KCRW & WFUV. Lead single “Our Hearts” was featured by Teen Vogue, RCRD LBL, WXPN and more while the video (a coproduction and conception with the prestigious arts collective The Windmill Factory) was featured by Paste Magazine, My Old Kentucky Blog & Spinner, to name a few.

Clocking in at 27 minutes with seven tracks, Pills From Strangers is a Mini-LP that features textures and sounds that build upon the foundation laid by the band’s debut, incorporating samples and key controllers into their repertoire. Even with the new elements involved, Pills From Strangers has some of the most accessible Firehorse music yet.

The lustrously bounce of “Good” is destined to explode at radio, as is “Bloodstream.” “Fool,” in its simplicity, stands out as a soulful yet ethereal counterpoint to the rest of the album. Previous fans of Firehorse (and Leah Siegel’s earlier solo material) may gravitate towards the lulling “Wave,” the starkness of “Walls” or the dark, ‘Wizard of Oz’ referencing “Scarecrow.”

At the producer’s helm once again was Geoff Stanfield (Sun Kil Moon, Moby, Mieka Pauley). “Geoff is an incredibly talented producer and we work well together,” explains Leah. “He lets me be myself, experiment and flail and I trust his ears and sensibility. It was clear that we should work together again.”

Also returning on the album are longtime Firehorse cohorts Brian Wolfe (David Byrne/St. Vincent, Sufjan Stevens) on drums, guitarist Steve Elliott (Shooter Jennings), bassist Tim Luntzel (Rosanne Cash) and keyboardist/programmer Mendeley Wells.

In addition to Firehorse, Siegel is in high demand with a long line of star-studded projects and is a darling of the underground Brooklyn Scene. In addition to working with Fugee legend John Forte, producer Seven Aurelias of P.Diddy’s crew, Ja Rule, Sean Lennon, Grammy Winners Josh Ralf and Lady Rizo, she also fronts The Brooklyn Boogaloo Blowout and sings and dances in The Citizens Band along with Sarah Sophie Flicker, Karen Elson, Nina Perrson, Rain Phoenix, Zoe Kravitz, Angela McKluskey and Julia Stiles.

The band's ensemble structure (cello, trumpet, and melodica) and learned lyricism echoes the stage-packing sounds of Arcade Fire, Danielson, Bright Eyes, and Decemberists, while its shambolic, maximalist barroom aura recalls Robert Pollard, another songwriter infrequently at a loss for words.