Search - His Name Is Alive :: Firefly Dragonfly Ep

Eternal reinvention

Stargrazer | deep in the heart of Michigan | 10/06/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"His Name Is Alive is in a perpetual state of re-envisioning their material, and on the "Firefly Dragonfly" EP, they bring us not only a stripped down "Come Out The Wilderness" (an alternate version from their latest full-lenth "Xmmer,") but also a languid update of "There's Something Between Us And He's Changing My Words" that dissolves into the bells, cello drone, and seemingly random sprinkled piano and guitar notes of "Send Me A Dragonfly," a fourteen minute offering that recalls Warn Defever's more abstract recorded output of the past (like the "Cloud Box.")



That and a Sufjan Stevens cover.



This is definitely not the first time HNIA has covered their own songs -- projects like the "Raindrops Rainbow" digital EP or "Livonia Strings" demonstrate their restless re-imagining of their own canon, not to mention numerous alternate versions of "The Dirt Eaters." It's as if they keep the songs alive by occasionally resuscitating them -- ensuring there is no such thing as a "definitive" recording, no arteries hardening or muscle-memory atrophy.



This is a great addition to "Detrola" and "Xmmer" for fans, though probably not the right place for the casually curious to dip their toe into HNIA. I suspect that was the band's thought when they decided to package these songs separately from the "main" albums, on their own E.P., released by a Spanish label."