Review Summary: Weariness galore.
It should be obvious at this point that Flatsound’s music requires patience and a gut for indulgent quietness. But something I still keep forgetting is that listening to his extended plays is about as difficult as any of his hour long monstrosities. Everything here, from the breathy, whispering vocals, the anti-eventful song-writing, to the purposefully minimalistic and vague instrumentation, you will find either excruciating or absolutely astonishing.
Hummingbird is pretty much just like that with no exception. It is only seven tracks long, each reaching from one to three minutes in length, but it feels like a fully-fledged soundtrack to the rainiest, foggiest, most melancholy-inducing and endless chapter of sorrow in your life. From the opening chamber ambiance of the title track, through the surprisingly atmospheric “Action Scene”, to the dawn-like “You Said Remembering Would Feel Too Much Like Moving Back Home”, it's just chilling.
It’d be incorrect to describe this as either a life-changing experience or its exact opposite, an unbearable bore. The best way to characterise this is ‘different’. It’s a glimpse into a fatigued mind. Not lazy, but fatigued, unable to move swiftly and with ease, but rather meddling along in the life’s greyness, observing which will tire you too, no matter how energetic and upbeat a person you are.
