Looking at the artwork and promotional materials for Flare's EP Circa, I
was positively mortified: a small red stamp of a depressed man, pixelated
clip art, data from an electrical circuit, several prominent namedrops of
Stephin Merritt, and band photos that look somewhat like a criminal lineup.
This band appeared like it would be the worst I've ever been forced to review.
As it turns out, Circa is an unexpected gem. The band marries glacial
Low-inspired slowcore with eclectic, rustic instrumentation similar to the
artists of Perishable Records. The songs are made from a variety of
stringed instruments, from various guitars to several types of ukulele
to violin, giving the band the label "orchestral," although the songs here
are sparser than the typical chamber group. That sparse backdrop gives
lead singer LD Beghtol's full-bodied vocals sufficient room to expand,
filling every nook and cranny left open by the strings.
Beghtol's voice gives the songs a Factory Records feel, and its gooey, rich
quality is enough to make the songs moving even when the music is less than
inspirational. "Item: June 16th" is such a song, the simple, quiet,
repetitive ukulele and piano being fairly inconsequential. The vocals, though,
recorded to sound like ghosts in a cavernous chapel, are adequately haunting.
On songs where the music is allowed to be as interesting as the singing,
the results can be magical, like on the title track which starts off simple
but blossoms beautifully.
Flare show enough great qualities on this EP to turn out a phenomenal record:
beautiful, evocative music, full, bellowing vocals, and perfectly morose
lyrics. However, on the Circa EP, they seem to pick and choose where they
exhibit each of those great qualities, never really sustaining a simultaneous
use of all three. The result is still something extremely pleasing and a great
promise of things to come.
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