PRESS:

"A place of both sugary pop melodies and shaded ambiguity. Locking into the almost child-like giddiness of Robyn Hitchcock while still retaining an element of post-punk jaggedness, Donat’s Fir Cone Children is one of the most interesting musical projects putting music out currently. On the latest album titled It Chooses You Donat puts an overcast sky directly over top his typically dreamy project. Sounding more Preoccupations than Egyptians, It Chooses You feels like staring out into the abyss contemplating where life goes next. Dreamy but indifferent; songs that paint a future not quite focused or understandable, but with a hint of hope living in the back of your mind." - Complex Distractions (USA)

"Impeccable, ten attractive tracks, dreamy certainly but also spicy. The songs come together, differently but ultimately complementary. [...] Fir Cone Children lines up the nuggets whichever option [Donat] chooses. [...] It suits him well, his opus is constantly pleasant. [...] A coherent album which includes only convincing compositions." - Muzzart (FRA)

"8/10 - Music for a space age beach party [...] you are no longer afraid of the Honey Monster but instead embrace the cereal he offers you [...] walking though a magical Meadow towards an orchard that is full of fruit that you hope is ripe enough to pick and eat as part of that day's picnic lunch [...] like you've just done your first somersault on a half-pipe and had a little spill on landing [...] watching the foals being birthed [...] exploding pastries with jam [...] 1980's Danish horror movie." - Whisperin And Hollerin (UK)

"[Cereals & Confidence] has an eighties, goth art house vibe. The bass could’ve been lifted straight from a Cure track. The lush synths lift and surround the vocals. I love how the song evolves as it progresses, right up to that buoyant, uplifting ending. I’ve listened to this song so many times now and I still can’t get my head around how he created the chorus. The drums alone are stunningly complex. It’s classic Fir Cone Children. Uplifting and life affirming lyrics framed in a killer track." - Static Sounds Club (SCO)

"While the backstory is amusing, the song is atmospherically wistful, full of twinkling guitar chime, shadowy bass line pull, emphatically thumped drums, and Donat’s longing vocal tone. Sparkling light and ominous shadow play against each other on the dreamy, yet melancholic tune that is a harbinger of the end of summer fun…" - Big Takeover Magazine (USA)

"8/10 - The result is shoegaze as lively as it is dark. The opener "The age of New Biedermeier" reflects the mood of the past year and the pandemic. Holidays in Denmark, breakfast together – that may sound simple, but Donat skillfully saves the album from hints of banality with his perspective on everyday children's life. In addition, there is the eighties sound with a good reverberation and cold synths. It acts like a transfiguring Instagram filter on the small and large themes that the album touches on. A bit like a forty-year-old Spielberg film. At the same time, the hectic mix of heavy and fast banging drums in "Skate on, Marz" together with the sweetly sticky rest makes you feel what it was like at that age. At least in an adult perspective. Conclusion: Experiment succeeded." - Ox Fanzine (GER)

"Our favourite track to run to this week comes, fittingly, from one of the most legendary runners the indie world has ever produced: Alexander Leonard Donat aka Fir Cone Children! His new single "The Age of New Biedermeier", feat. Jackie Kasbohm from Echodrone, is dream punk at its best, with fuzz, speed (of course!), and a super-catchy chorus! Just the right music to push you on the last metres! Give it a listen, all you fellow runners out there!" - Eleven Popsongs (GER)

"Steeped in ethereally feverish moods, “Knees In The Sand” blows warm glowing synth swathes through tumultuous dragging rhythms, murky reverbs, sinuous rumbling bass lines, and an intoxicating array of soaring male/female vocal harmonies adrift in high-strung anxiety and ominous baritone mishaps, to release the whimsical charm of the lyrical narrative into a stripped-down pause of rambunctious drum beats, obsessively pulsing low ends and penetrating guitar slivers, ploughing relentless nervous dancing energies through the lively tale of animated dread." - White Light/White Heat (ITA)

"'Knees In The Sand', with guest vocals by Krissy Vanderwoude who is well-known in the shoegaze scene, is a playful dream pop track in which you can dream yourself on a beach, buried up to your knees in the sand, breathing in freedom. Despite the driving feeling, a certain melancholy hovers like a stunt kite, and the song perfectly captures the bitter sweetness of a summer day. For fans of Beach House, DIIV or Makthaverskan." - Tonspion (GER)

"Dreampunk in style [...] A beautiful dreampunk sound that embraces us with shoegaze and postpunk roots, but also with a positive message from the driving force himself [...] a fuzzy, uptempo atmosphere in 10 tracks." - Luminous Dash (BEL)

"This personal album acts as a kind of musical diary and outlines memories of gold medals, ice cream meals, vacations, magical animals, skate stunts, wild sleigh rides and extra portions of cereal. Embedded in dreampop and coldwave spheres, Alexander sprinkles a multi-layered sound image. [...] The bright, liquid sound predominates and overlays short sequences in which things get wilder than at a children's birthday party, where everyone is very excited." - Underdog Fanzine (GER)


English:
On "It Chooses You" Fir Cone Children sound hazy and foggy while at the same time offering the fast-paced songs the one-man band has become known for. It has just become a little more reflective.
Opening with the panicky, caffeinated wall of sound of “The Age of New Biedermeier”, FCC might even shock listeners familiar with the dreampunk the band has offered in the past six years. It has never sounded that gloomy and desperate before. We live in difficult times, though, a deadly pandemic is surging and forcing us to adopt new ways of living. You can’t easily be as (positively) naïve and spontaneous as before, especially when you’re a kid.
Background: Alexander Donat made it his goal to dedicate each of his Fir Cone Children albums to his two daughters (now aged 6 and 8), releasing one album every year. On LP number seven, "It Chooses You", the title reflects the feeling the past year evoked. No matter what we decide, we cannot actively choose our own fate, things - good and bad – just happen. This album, although obviously having a melancholic side to it, focuses on the good stuff: gold medals, ice cream, holidays, magical animals, skate stunts, wild sleigh rides, extra bowls of cereals. You can (and you should!) still be excited about life and enjoy the huge playground the world offers.
Carry a positive attitude, and don’t forget to dream, punks!


Deutsch:
Auf "It Chooses You" werden dichte Soundlandschaften gewebt und nach wie vor treibende Songs geliefert. Alles ist jedoch eine Spur nachdenklicher geworden.
Mit der panischen, koffeingetränkten Wall of Sound von „The Age of New Biedermeier“ eröffnend, könnten Fir Cone Children aber direkt einige Hörer verstören, die mit dem Dreampunk der letzten FCC-Jahre vertraut gemacht wurden. So düster und verzweifelt hat man FCC bislang nicht erlebt. Wir leben jedoch in schwierigen Zeiten, eine tödliche Pandemie macht sich breit und zwingt uns zu einem neuen Alltag, zu einer neuen Lebensweise. So uneingeschränkt (positiv) naiv und spontan wie vor zwei Jahren kann man derzeit kaum sein, vor allem, wenn man ein Kind ist.
Hintergrund: Alexander Donat hat es sich zum Ziel gesetzt, seine alljährlichen Fir-Cone-Children-Alben seinen beiden Töchtern zu widmen (derzeit 6 und 8 Jahre alt) und so ihren Alltag und ihre Erlebnisse zu vertonen. Auf LP Nummer sieben, "It Chooses You", spiegelt der Titel das Gefühl wider, das das vergangene Jahr hervorgerufen hat. Egal wofür wir uns auch entscheiden, wir können unser eigenes Schicksal nicht steuern, Dinge – gute und schlechte – passieren einfach. Dieses Album, obwohl es offensichtlich eine melancholische Seite hat, konzentriert sich weitestgehend auf das glücklich Machende im Alltag: Goldmedaillen, Eisessen, Urlaub, magische Tiere, Skate-Stunts, wilde Schlittenfahrten und Extraportionen Müsli. Man kann (und sollte!) trotz aller widrigen Umstände das Leben genießen und sich auf dem riesigen Spielplatz austoben, den die Welt bietet.
Behaltet eine positive Haltung - und vergesst nicht zu träumen, Punks!