Review Summary: Stadia-worthy power guitars fronted by a strong female vocalist
What do you look for in a guitar band set? Go on, think for a minute or so. Something you can’t help but posture to? Something that is convincingly retrospective and somehow simultaneously forward-looking? Something that allows you to wistfully sway with your pint clutched close? Back Streets and White Lies, the latest EP from Flawless Carbon, manages to accomplish all that, and more.
This Kent quartet, projecting powerful guitar riffs oozing with swagger [Back Streets and White Lies; Play It All Away], are fronted by magnificently strong female vocals with an ace range. Flawless Carbon’s sound is polished but retains its grit. Just when you wonder whether there’s more to give, the production lets hints of acoustic guitar through the mix to give you a brief steer away from shoulder-posing and knee-flexing [Stuck; Black Blood].
This is a polished EP with meat to get your teeth stuck into. Don’t let the bodacious speaker-blasting sound [Black Blood] distract you from what these tracks have to say [Superfluous]. This lot have clearly got big dates in sight; including stadia-worthy interludes [Stuck] in this five-track offering, just to make sure you understand what their long-game is.
If you’re a go for full speakers, a slight reminisce á la Almost Famous, and a clear message led by a formidable-sounding woman, crack on, this one’s for you.
