"A summer haze colors the view / The smell of smoke fills the room / Impassioned calls of action fall out of you / Let's hit the road and leave behind a bit of truth..."
The raw passion and indie rock exuberant purge of "Another Fire" by Denver indie artist Flooky, and from the debut album "This Means War", simmers and then boils over in lovely intimate ways. Tinges of sort of 90's strewn indie rock, jangle and tubular guitars, stripped down sets, full fledged fireworks on the chorus and singer-songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Johnathan Maske's pushed vocal countenance. Maske, here is a one man band, sole writer, and is able to sound like a band which is harder than you think. I think when you are a multi-instrumentalist and writer sometimes you tend to overthink and over produce but Maske has a measured hand that equals a pretty live sound and I like that. He also stuffs his vocal performance with a fiery sense of giving his all, I obviously don't know but would bet that his vocal takes were few going with new intensity and emotional bloodletting before any of that tempers down.
LINER NOTES (bracketed from Flooky):
[This song is about desolation, betrayal, and desperation. Having grown up in the mountains I have many memories of whole forests of blackened trees. Forests that were destroyed in massive forest fires. I remember the dry, smoky air. The red sky in the evenings. The immense dust. I wanted to paint such a picture as I described human relationships and situations which had taken on such characteristics. And I wanted to pray and hope for rain, blue water, blue skies, and a chance to turn it all around and start again.]
[This song is about desolation, betrayal, and desperation. Having grown up in the mountains I have many memories of whole forests of blackened trees. Forests that were destroyed in massive forest fires. I remember the dry, smoky air. The red sky in the evenings. The immense dust. I wanted to paint such a picture as I described human relationships and situations which had taken on such characteristics. And I wanted to pray and hope for rain, blue water, blue skies, and a chance to turn it all around and start again.]
My wife and I, having going through the massive, devastating month long LINE FIRE last September (2024) that burned 44,046 acres in Running Springs, Arrowbear, Forest Falls and Mountain Home Village could absolutely relate to "Another Fire". That fire that had us evacuating with little sleep for 10 days straight as we scoured news sources and local Facebook pages has left some scars on us but nothing like the burn scars on the mountain. Every time we traverse up or down we are reminded of the devastation that will not be completely regrown for about 100 years.
Anyway, Flooky's, aka Johnathan Maske's, debut "This Means War" is worth a hard listen and while this is not an album review and my visit to the album was more of a perusal, I found connections to the sort of rustic blistering folk busker punk leans of "Last One Left Standing", the vast chamber folk / mellow dreaminess of "Storm King", the southern folk rock grit of "Starlight", the rustic twangy campfire glow of "The World's Oldest Tale" & more. Check it all out.
-Robb Donker Curtius
+ + +
+ + +
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.instagram.com/flookysounds/
https://flooky.bandcamp.com/album/this-means-war
https://www.facebook.com/flooky.flooky.791819
The debut album by Flooky, called "This Means War", focuses on the many aspects of conflict within life, and the devastation or hope that can overwhelm a life in moments of reckoning. Flooky hails from Denver, CO, USA.
Flooky, indie rock, folk, acoustic, jangle pop, rustic, intimate, alt rock, alt folk, Denver, new album "This Means War", single "Another Fire", singer songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Johnathan Maske,
No comments:
Post a Comment