Review Summary: Noise Rock classic that never became one.
The way one experiences music is changing over time. With increasing age new albums don't get as much attention as it used to get in younger years. Which makes it much harder for long-year music lovers to rate newer music as high as the "classics". And this phenomenon has another side effect. Every couple of years a band will come along which tries to capture the same production and song structures that made past bands so successful. If a band manages to hit that sweet spot that reminds you of music of your childhood chances are high you will love it. But something is always not quite right, something will always make you prefer the originals, no matter how good new bands are.
Well, for me Flower was a new band. I discovered them sometime in 2014 on some blog and they hit that sweet tone instantly. I grew up with Sonic Youth, Fugazi and all the early Grunge movement and hearing Flower instantly made me feel home again. This doesn't feel like a band trying to capture the right mood, this feels like an original.
Because it is.
Flower released their debut EP "Crash" before their full length albums "Hologram Sky" and "Concrete". Crash was mainly influenced by Post-Punk and Hardcore, but on both albums they changed their musical direction.
This Compilation features both their albums in reverse order.
According to their bandcamp page Flower came together as a band in 1986, utilizing the Noise elements of Sonic Youth and Swans to give their Pop/Rock songs more texture. This sounds relatively underwhelming, but considering that Sonic Youth went similar paths with "Daydream Nation" two years later - which we all know was to be a true classic, Flower were the first of the two bands focusing on pop appeal.
But the similarity to Sonic Youth's masterpiece is only a superficial one. Yes Flower share a comparable production and in some parts that very unique atmosphere (bass driven middle part of "Torch Song" is a major example), but all in all their bandcamp description is spot on. Where Sonic Youth like to maximize the effect of their noise elements, resulting in 7 minutes songs, Flower barely hit the 4 minute mark with 2 notable exceptions. The song is more important than the style.
The whole sound is driven by bass and mostly mellow guitar leads, with some crushing riffs, utilized in the right places. The way the guitar is used brings another band to mind: Come, another very underrated band of the past. Flower are never heavy, the tone is never over-amplified. Instead the right amount of reverb in combination with simple, but yet effective bass melodies make the basic recipe for the majority of songs.
Take "Memorial Song". It starts with a very simple guitar riff, delivered in a nearly half-acoustic style. The drums kick in and first thing you realize is how weak, but yet effective the production is. Bass is, as mentioned before very prominent and then the chorus kicks in, very memorable, with the right amount of edginess. After the second chorus the Sonic Youth references become obvious, when Flower play a tiny noise part, just to come back to their mellow side again.
From "Magick" on Flower display their punk past. The sound doesn't change much, but is more straight forward and vocalist Richard Baluyut puts some raw elements into his performance. "Climax" even showcases some screams. Fans of classic SST releases should feel right at home.
Flower hold on to this formula for all 20 songs, with shifting focus between Punk, Noise, Alternative. The fact that Flower manage to keep the quality at a constant maximum must be followed by a logical "classic" rating from my part.
Recommended Songs:
Memorial Day
Torch Song
Ohio
Magick
