Fire Engines fail to ignite.
I'm always interested in bands' names, so I'm especially at a wonder as to the name Fire Engines. Somewhat random and pretty boring, it gives no idea as to the genre, nor does it tell you much about the band. Perhaps we could look deeply into this suggesting that of all the services, the fire brigade have the hardest job because they are fighting against an almost uncontrollable force? And then perhaps they see that the fire engine is the important player transporting the firemen to the fire? So they could be stating that out of all of the forms of entertainment, music is the hardest to make, and that they are the engine that carries the art from its conception to the ears of the public? What am I talking about? This was more than likely an off-the-cuff flippant idea that stuck. But the long winded point I'm trying to make is that try as you might, like their name, Fire Engines are nothing special, and although we can dissect them into something more deep, I believe that the truth would be that the first song was a little like a teen pregnancy - conceived after a quick mess about session and thought a good idea to keep...The indie-rock guitar and rhythm section is uninspiring and the vocals are like a new instrument being played over again without clarity or point.
The second song however is a great deal better. The guitar sounds as if it may be a Beach Boys b-side, and even the vocals seem very reminiscent of the aforementioned legends' music when they were bored of singing about surfin' and 'bushy, bushy blonde hairdos..'. 'Candyskin' is as good a song as first song 'Discord' is bad, giving you a real Jekyl and Hyde scenario.
The bottom line is that Fire Engines will not set the world on fire, and if they do I'll eat my fireman's helmet...