***1/2 Flexie
GALAXY PARK
(Surreal EP)
Flexie here combine the moody
lyricism of early 'Til Tuesday/recent Aimee Mann with the electronic noise of
Tribe. In "Everybody," guitarist Richard Marr's orchestral effects and
versatile repertoire of short licks lead drummer Chris Willett and bassist
Brett Fasullo through intricate shifts among progressive rock drama, Lush-like
raves, and jazz bridges that feature the band playing around the rhythm.
Trilling and swooping through keys, the trippy vocalizations of Ellie
Volckhausen and Rosie Huntress in "Kites" slide across the melody as they whirl
through a carnival of isolated images: "A walkway brick/A thorny prick/I meet
images/Of all your visages/I adore." Marr's melodramatic wow owes something to
another Marr's Mersey sound, but the shrill close harmonies Volckhausen and
Huntress pull off and the conservatory training evident in the rhythm section
gets you fired up for an original sound in the wound-up rock of "Rattlesnake"
and the folksy punk of "Charms." Let's hope that a major label doesn't smooth
out the rough edges.
-- Craig Thorn
(Flexie play Mama Kin tonight, February 6, and the Middle East on Thursday
February 20.)
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