Artist: Flyspoon
Label: Self-released
Release: 2010
Runtime: 37:50
Rating: 4/5
Alternative rock in Slovenia is facing new challenges! The new national usurpers and peace-breakers go by the name Flyspoon this time. The quintet, originally based in the Celje corner of Slovenia, embodies an interesting and unusual combination of noise and infectious “groove” rhythm, the creation of wound-up voltage whose energy flows at full efficiency, with no braking and no self-control. Their basic motto is the creation of destructive energy that enchants the listener and unconditionally rocks them into a state of stupor.
These guys grew up listening to the legacy of the “grunge” sound, reveling in the unbridled, stirring musical provocations of “disconnected” misfits like Faith No More and/or Living Colour, and they’ve managed to cash in on a kind of expressiveness in their outlook and understanding that’s not exactly an everyday thing for Slovenia. The foundation is a solid rhythmic “groove”. The wound-up bass guitar, funked up in places, with a thick, “penetrative” volume that could cut through concrete, deepens and widens the sturdy rhythmic framework of the drums. That’s pretty much the basis of every Flyspoon song. A hypnotic rhythm groove. The riffs are aimed at building a massive wall in the background of the sonic picture. In terms of tone, the guitar is awfully sparing, even in its chord progressions. Its main trait is a wrecking-ball stance. The tuning is lower, the riffs dropped, and chords often get lost in “fade out” rhetoric through deliberately “oscilloid” screeching, droning, roaring, clanging… The distortion and the sonic massiveness it creates are pushed to the max and provide an impenetrable wall. There are two guitars, and in a distortion set up like that, through the “fade out” of dropped (open-ringing) chords, they deliberately exploit the sound effects of oscillations, which deepen the black atmosphere and ensure even greater compatibility with the band’s dynamic and intensely active rhythm line.
The whole thing would be hugely boring without the right vocal, though, since it would become predictable and trivial. Flyspoon aren’t Red Sparowes, after all, so the vocal is absolutely necessary. It’s pitched in the low to mid registers. It’s the creator of most of the melodies in Flyspoon’s songs. It carries an innate talent for magnifying the feelings woven into the verses of Flyspoon’s poetry. The vocal is the part of Flyspoon’s energy that most directly grabs the listener’s attention. It turns like the wind. In different directions. It’s completely unpredictable in its intentions, or, in plain speak, in its choice of the basic figures through which it delivers information. Hints of “Patton-isms” are definitely not ruled out here. Outbursts of anger, disillusionment, the need for defiance, for overcoming fears, for perseverance, are emphasized convincingly, feel real and consequently take over your attention. If I may allow myself a touch of deliberate bizarreness, Premužič is a real little saddened and disappointed Morrison of the new era. The chemistry is spot on in Flyspoon, and the combination of instrumental backing and vocal in a song like Bad Monkey feels especially thrilling and, in its attractive unusualness, even shocking to a degree.
In the production, it would be good in the future to bring the vocal out a bit more, since it sounds too quiet on this demo. That way the superiority of the vocal doesn’t get to develop in the overall sonic picture. Otherwise, the production, which the band took care of entirely by themselves, is hugely pleasing in its other building blocks. Raw and alive, exactly what Flyspoon are supposed to be at their core.
Flyspoon, at the same time, don’t hide their great talent, all the authentic musical and expressive appeal generated by undistorted creative inspiration. And that precondition for a healthy development path is guaranteed precisely by the band members, who are on the same creative frequency and wavelength. That’s why the songs sound so real and convincing. Flyspoon are atmospheric “groove” dark-mongers who will rock you into a deep rhythmic dream and sprinkle morphine into your veins. The demo “Flyspoon” is a manifesto of eight excellent songs, a clear herald of a recognizable authorial stance, and at the same time a guarantee of high-energy flow and dynamics, the result of conceptual wit, creative boundlessness and a craving for “free-spirited” artistic validation! So there’s a new authentic, uncut diamond on the horizon, developing completely on its own and independently. It fights its way through and makes its living entirely by itself on the Slovenian scene, as the release of this first musical document by the band, self-released, also proves. Judging by what we’ve heard, we can await the studio debut with great impatience, and keep our fingers crossed that a foreign label discovers Flyspoon soon and that audiences abroad recognize them. They’re right at the very top of what the world today knows as alternative in rock, which builds on the authentic shock therapy of the raw “groove” element.
Lineup
Jani Premužič – vocals
Jaka Strojanšek – guitar
Jernej Hribernik – guitar
Matic Strojanšek – bass guitar
Miha Narobe – drums
Production
Flyspoon
Track List
1. Paradigm Parlysis
2. Bad Monkey
3. Roller-coaster Ride For A New Born Child
4. Phantom’s Eye
5. Epoch
6. A Lee With Pins
7. Dissolution
8. The Last Run
