Tav Falco
Desire on Ice
Org Music
They say everything old is new again. The songs on Desire On Ice are drawn from Tav Falco’s 40-plus year career as a Southern Gothic outsider. The record was conceived by Falco’s long time collaborator and producer Mario Monterosso. They took existing Falco compositions and recontextualized them as a noir audio drama, a tour of the international demimonde. Recorded over 18 months at Sam Phillips Recording Services in Memphis, an impressive array of friends augments the core Panther Burns lineup of Falco, Monterosso, Giuseppe Sangirardi, and Walter Brunetti.
A spaghetti western guitar sends shivers down the spine on “Prologue.” Kid Congo Powers’ spoken word intro (sounding a lot like Vincent Price) sets the tone. This is a tale of shady people living in the dark recesses of urban decay. “Gentleman in Black” confirms that the protagonist is a loner playing one-night stands to pimps and hustlers, by choice.
Guitarist Chris Spedding and harp master Charlie Musselwhite turn “Cuban Rebel Girl” into a swaggering blues romp. Ann Magnuson ads a sexy vamp to ”Vampire from Havana,” and “Chamber of Desire” rolls out like a dirge. Tav’s weary voice intones about desire as if it were a torture. Jolie Holland cuts through the despair like a siren luring a mariner to the rocky shores.
“Doomsday Baby” stands out from the Noir narrative. Originally written in 2015, this tune sounds like a bitter commentary on current affairs. Tav sings in the character of a racist war monger. “Blow up their schools, burn down they church… if they try to run shoot them in the back for fun.” I can’t listen to this tune without thinking of Gaza and Ice raids.
