Written by Natalie Silva

Charlie Johnston remains elusive, releasing The Firetruck Is Running Late without fanfare, and allowing listeners to take on the role of opening up and reading this diary of an album. With nostalgia in every corner and heartbreak in every line, Johnston moves through stories of life and love and loss with a gentle matter-of-factness; this record feels like a knife to the heart (if the knife were pink and sparkly). The Firetruck Is Running Late is devastatingly beautiful and feels a touch exclusive–it’s a privilege to discover Johnston’s music.

The first track, “Silo,” is a great representation of what to expect with The Firetruck Is Running Late. It demonstrates how Johnston produces vivid imagery through simple, poetic rhyme schemes and patterns: it’s satisfying to the ear without being too repetitive or cheesy. Moving through the album, you come to “Your Tree.” Here, you really get those Kimya Dawson-esque vocals and that storybook feel that the album art suggests. The nostalgia continues with “Coach’s Ballad” and the repetition, or echo, of each line of the chorus. This, combined with the clapping sounds that can be heard in the background, make the song immediately reminiscent of early childhood playground games, summer camp, and coming-of-age movies.

As Johnston’s label, Trash Tape Records, put it, this album is full of “fabled melodies…with blankets of distant, sustained piano, lagging and pushed-to-the-absolute-brink drums and sometimes a left-field appearance from heavy sub synth bass or violin.” The addition of that violin happens beautifully in “Dishes,” as Johnston finishes singing “And all the glasses drop.” The instrumentals delicately lift up the song and tide the listener over until the next line. It’s a standout song, placed perfectly at the beginning of the end of the record, where like the violin, it carries the listener into the last six minutes of the album.

As the album does come to its close, brought forward are allusions to the title, The Firetruck Is Running Late. The subtle introduction of fire comes in on “The Meow-Meow Express” as Johnston sings “One day you’ll be by a fire and I’ll be with you there / We’ll breathe and breathe and breathe until we’re too filled up with air…/ And when we are full of fire what is there to do?” While it feels like there is more to the story than meets the ear, the true meaning feels nicely buried beneath the image Johnston paints of a cat and a trainset. Then, on the final song “My Life Before Electricity,” the listener is lulled to daydreaming as Johnston repeats over and over “The firetruck is running late / The firetruck is running late.” It’s one of those songs, and even more so one of those albums, where as a listener it’s so easy to feel memories being pulled from your mind and inadvertently assigned to the lyrics of the songs. It’s an album that somehow feels like it’s written specifically about you and your life. It’s an album that you hope everybody and nobody discovers all at once, because what you want to keep a secret feels too great not to share.

The Firetruck Is Running Late is available on all streaming platforms except Spotify, and CDs are available for purchase on Bandcamp.