Tuesday, February 19, 2013

REVIEW: Flowerss - Charm


From Test Pattern Records, a previous source of some terrific shoegaze music, comes Flowerss (Christapher Larsen, formerly of Buildings Breeding, along with Andrew Hoke (aka Bird Peterson). This is a terrific combination - the electronica of Hoke and the more laid-back California pop of Larsen combine to make a record that, while pleasant, is plenty catchy and builds slowly throughout to some fairly heavy sounds.

Their new release, Charm, is not easily categorized - it's kind of quiet, almost ambient electronic music in places ("Halo" and "Sun Dial", for example), but has got a component that borders on shoegaze, in places - the guitars swirl and get nearly overwhelming at times. Then, on songs like "Big Hands", it is clearly soul-influenced:



Overall, it's got a lot of the qualities you look for in good psychedelic music, and the variation in sounds and tempos only serve to hold my interest and confirm for me that Larsen is somebody I definitely want to hear more from.

Here's "Every Mile" - my favorite song on the record. It's pretty soulful and brooding, but pretty poppy at the same time:



And there's an alternate mix of the same song that brings up the beats a little more - and, interestingly, is three seconds shorter:



It's out Tuesday (Feb. 19), and you can listen and buy at Test Pattern Records


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