This spring I plan to excursion down Highway 1 in a rented convertible because sometimes the writer's lifestyle I lead demands it. This morning I added a detail to that plan. The convertible must have a cassette deck, so I may play FWY!'s San Clemente tape while the sun falls into the ocean. FWY! seem well informed of such excursions. The song titles are map points in Southern California and each one sounds a bit like the destination at dusk after a day of casual driving. California is an expansive state with a winding coastal edge. It's fitting that FWY! unwinds for over fourteen minutes on the title track. It gives the tape a carefree sense of taking in one's surroundings.
FWY! is the solo project of Edmund Xavier, who you might know from such bands as Art Museums and Teenage Panzerkorps (DER TPK). Last we heard from Edmund he had manufactured German reggae. But FWY! is the most San Franciscan project in Edmund's catalog. It seems California is mellowing out Edmund's stiff uber-German pallet.
FWY!'s San Clemente CS is out now on Moon Glyph.
