Flume
Self titled
Reviewed by Michele Zipkin
The twenty-one-year-old Australian producer whose musical nom de plume is Flume has been making positive waves in the beat-making scene with his debut self-titled record, officially released on February 19th. This young artist certainly has potential to prick up a few ears in 2013 with his creative and dance-worthy beats that touch on a variety of styles including hip-hop, soul and electronica. The record features vocalists who are under the radar but who may soon be on the rise, such as Jezzabell Doran, Chet Faker and Moon Holiday.
The album starts off well with the upbeat and dance-invoking “Sinatra”, which showcases some cool collages of synths and vocals mixed with pleasantly complex percussion. We see diversity in style with “Holdin On”, with its very soulful, R&B-influenced vocal line and shimmering synthesized flourishes against a hip-hop beat. “Sleepless”, which features the lovely voice of Jezzabell, includes a hot little looping “aww” vocal that is well-mixed into the other rhythmic sounds, intermingling with digital voices that shoot up into the stratosphere like fireworks. Peaks and troughs in intensity are the heart and soul of this tune; the drop-out of percussion and exposure of tones only makes the build-up back to the song’s original drum/synth riff all the more sweet.
“On Top” is veritable rap sporting T. Shirt spitting verses that are supported by zoom-like digital work, similar to the texture of Jay-Z’s “99 Problems”, but with a lot more syncopation. Some major electronic wahs make themselves heard in “More than You Thought”, as if they were instrumental excerpts from Pretty Lights’ “Out of Time.” “Insane” showcases singing from Moon Holiday and has a pretty bangin’ main riff. While the vocals EQed to expose their high register is a cool effect, it also shows up in “Stay Close” and “Change”, making it a little too prevalent.
London hip-hop producer Bobby Tank already remixed “Left Alone” into much more of a percussively cumbersome beat composed of badass background vocals that are syncopated and descending in register. Tank’s version has a lot more going on compared to the original, which is more rhythmically minimalistic and exposes those deep and impassioned vocals. Neither version outsmarts the other.
While some tracks on this first effort are nothing to write home about, others teem with jam-able beats from a very skilled producer in the bloom of youth. There will undoubtedly be more to come from this up-and-coming engineer who clearly knows his way around a mixing board.
