Flashpapr - Do What You Must Do
(Westside)
Flashpapr is an Ann Arbor, Michigan quartet featuring violin, upright bass, guitar, piano, and drums. From that description, you may be thinking, "Uh oh, college boy post-rock posturing," but you'd be wrong... well, at least you wouldn't be entirely right. Flashpapr's Do What You Must Do is an album that is not pristine and calculated, but rather gritty and rough around the edges. Despite the fact that His Name is Alive's Warn Defever recorded the album, it sounds like it was recorded in a bedroom full of clutter and warped acoustics.
The music on the album is said to be improvised, however, it sounds not like jazz but rather like folk or lo-fi indie rock. The instruments play simple and repetitive phrases, done at a slow and methodical tempo. Perhaps the recent collaboration between Low and The Dirty Three would be a good comparison, but nothing here is that adventurous or well made... perhaps if Sebadoh (circa 1990) would have participated instead of Low, that might be closer to what Flashpapr creates. The songs are light and unassuming. The vocalist sings off key but in an earnest manner, his whiney, nasally style matching somewhat with the swaying strings. The background is full of noise, creating an odd, rough texture; perhaps Defever is helping here, trying to relive some of his early His Name is Alive sound experimentation. In some places this noise is excessive, in others it matches well and is essential to the song.
The songs here are hit and miss. Some try to dig deep into experimentation, sounding highly influenced by Defever, like on "Untitled" with its beeps, cricket noises, and jumbled form or like on "When Now Began" which drones and bellows against a field of transient radio noises. Other songs are overly simple, like "Will the Moon be Out Tonight?," and don't work because of the singer's lack of singing ability. The band is much more successful when they stick to the middle ground, like on "The Air in my Stomach" where the strings swell with tortured notes as the singer echoes his pain or on "Four Rules For Now" using a sad-sounding, fast-paced electric guitar and an emotional violin swell.
Flashpapr's music is bleak and can be drab, but it is presented with an open heart and an expressive style. Because of the unevenness of the album, though, Flashpapr is more a band to look out for than a band to look into.
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