Flashguns - Passions of a Different Kind (Album Review)
Friday, 21 October 2011
Written by Owen Sheppard
Anyone who keeps a keen eye on the UK indie scene should expect to be hearing a lot more from this London three piece in the near future. “Passions of a Different Kind” is the result of “months of very hard work” as front man Sam Johnston puts it. The band began work on the follow up to their debut EP: “Matching Hearts, Similar Parts” while shut away in studios of countryside settings in Kent and Somerset during the summer months with producers Luke Smith (Foals and Depeche mode) and Barney Barnicott (Kasabian and Arctic Monkeys).
Despite 3 or 4 years of being under the music media radar, Flashguns are still only used to touring in modest pub and club venues across the UK. So the signing from Rough Trade Records and the privilege of working with two such high profile producers must have given the guys a clue that they were heading for bigger things. And so to return with an album that carries both craft and variety will surely have left the big bosses back at the label feeling pretty satisfied.
“Passions of a Different Kind” isn’t by any means going to revolutionise the indie scene and no one is going to suggest that any significant boundaries have been pushed here. However, like their contemporaries in bands like “Bombay Bicycle Club” or “The Vaccines”, they have delivered a collection of tracks that not only stand up as singles, but display a talent for putting together instrumentally interesting music with lyrical prowess and a knack for writing a good hook.
Opening track “Sounds of the forest” is Flashguns showing their feral side by kicking the album off with a strong dose of indie punk energy. The riff and base pedals hit harder and faster than any track Flashguns have released before and are accompanied by what come across as an urgent yet Radiohead-esque, “There There” sounding chorus, fitted with seemingly paraphrased lyrics “just because it’s there, doesn’t mean it gonna take you down”. Meanwhile tracks like “Candles out” keep the tempo up while mingling with soaring vocals and ambient indie guitars with a lyrical sentiment that finds front man Johnston addressing a lover in an isolated romantic, winter rendezvous.
Instrumentally, the album has stages where the riffs get almost grungy with some added distortion shoved in the mix with lead single: “no point hanging around” which recalls memories of early naughty’s bands like Ash. Whereas “The Beginning” is far more playful and adventurous with its use of drum fills that feel artfully pitched against well produced backing vocals and some late coming bass distortion.
“Good Breeding” is a step back to more familiar territory for Flashguns, with one of the stronger choruses on the album, coupled with a mid-way breakdown that features some subtle use of glockenspiel that makes this one feel more in touch with the current “arty” indie trends.
Reminiscent of the folkier side of popular music in 2011 is “Heat and Fire” which makes use of some beautiful melody making and some much subtler addition of acoustic guitars. There are shared elements to the punkier sounds experienced only some 15 minutes ago on the album, but the achievement of switching styles so elegantly deserves much respect. Something that ought to be heading this band’s way from their peers and the public alike in due course.
Quite predictably though, it’s the two most hum drum, typical indie songs: “come and see the lights” and title track “passions of a different kind” that have been selected as singles. Granted they are singles that will ultimately earn them comparisons with their peers in similar bands, these are still two catchy enough singles which come laden with hooks. Indubitably they are tunes that will earn them their radio play.
But a particular highlight of this record comes from the much more atmospheric rise and fall of energy in closing track “Racing Race”. The song drifts in with a quirky but delightful acoustic melody, carried by a slow and steady beat. However it’s Johnston’s vocals that really characterize this track with a voice that sounds full of restrained tension that rises to a full blown yell one minute and then is reduced to a solemn whisper a minute later. It’s the longest track on the album at just under seven minutes but it’s the fluctuation in style, speed and sentiment that sits across the whole album that makes it wash by in what feels like half as long as the album claims to be.
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Despite 3 or 4 years of being under the music media radar, Flashguns are still only used to touring in modest pub and club venues across the UK. So the signing from Rough Trade Records and the privilege of working with two such high profile producers must have given the guys a clue that they were heading for bigger things. And so to return with an album that carries both craft and variety will surely have left the big bosses back at the label feeling pretty satisfied.
