Remember an age when the music industry was solely inhabited by mavericks whose primary concern was artistic merit (and not the usual business speak that musicians now indulge)? Well, Tav Falco is one such artist. Working in a variety of disciplines, Tav’s career has been characterised by a restless exploration and his work in the field of music is no exception. A record that finds Tav (and long term collaborator Mario Monterosso) looking back and forwards simultaneously, Desire On Ice takes a selection of songs from his discography and reworks and reimagines them with an all-star ensemble. The result is a dozen tracks which fizz and sparkle in a way that only a Tav Falco album can.
Tav Falco’s work in the world of film really comes to the fore in the opening track titled ‘Prologue’. One of three new cuts composed for this release (along with ‘Crying For More’ and ‘Epilogue’), it’s a cinematic affair (as with most of this release) that provides the perfect gateway into Desire On Ice and the slightly off-kilter world of Tav Falco. This is a record that finds Tav pulling together all the various strands of his artistic endeavours; he’s also a noted author and there’s a story telling to his songsmithery and subsequently the protagonist who inhabits ‘Gentleman In Black’ becomes three-dimensional, stepping outside the song and (almost) becoming a living being. Such is the strength of imagery created that the likes of ‘Vampire From Havana’ blur the line between fantasy and reality in that way only a good novel can.
It feels as if a great deal of thought has gone into the sequencing of this album. This isn’t just a bunch of tracks hastily thrown together, rather the songs fit like an interlocking puzzle, with each connected to the other. As a whole, the songs now have a narrative in a way they didn’t in their original context and that means Desire On Ice flows like a spool of celluloid. An impressive cast of musicians have lined up to play (and pay homage) on this record, too many to name individually but some big players with big personalities, and it would have been easy for this record to become an uneven affair. Yet, it hangs together rather well, mainly because of the way these tracks have been positioned and the storyline arc.
I once had the honour of seeing Tav Falco in concert, it was one of the most surreal (but also one of the best) things I’d ever seen. It’s that aesthetic which threads this record into a collective whole, it’s surrealist in a David Lynch type way with Tav pulling back the thin veneer which separates this reality from the next and offers a glimpse of what lies beyond. ‘Epilogue’ holds that curtain wide open, almost daring you to step beyond, and it’s a conclusion that poses as many questions as it answers, ensuring it’ll stay with you long after the disc has stopped spinning.
The world of Tav Falco can be a be a daunting one for the novice to enter, it can be difficult to know where to start, but that’s precisely where Desire On Ice steps in and offers a window into the often eclectic world of Tav. However, long term fans will also find much to admire here with the players unearthing new facets to familiar songs. And that makes Desire On Ice a winner on all counts.
- Desire On Ice is released via ORG Music on 12th September 2025.
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Track List:
- Prologue
- Gentleman In Black
- Cuban Rebel Girl
- Sympathy For Mata Hari
- Vampire From Havana
- Doomsday Baby
- Crying For More
- The Ballad Of Rue De La Lune
- Garden Of The Medics
- Lady From Shanghai
- Chamber Of Desire
- Epilogue
