Flare: Bottom

Another 50 minutes of mordant chamber pop from LD Beghtol (see also Moth Wranglers), Charles Newman and fellow travellers. I hadn't thought before about the similarity between Flare's sound and that of Hugo Largo, but I recognise now that I see that one of the songs on this album is written by Mimi Goese from that band. And if that doesn't help you place the sound, try "Like Simon and Garfunkel on heavy pharmaceuticals" (source).

This is the first of the two Flare albums, and, since there haven't been any releases for five years (see full list), we have to wonder if this ensemble has run its course. This one includes the longer version of the previously-featured Celebrate the Misery.

I do like this quite a lot. It manages to be sparse and rich at the same time; something to do with the texture of LD's voice. But it's like drinking cognac: after you've had a few glasses, you feel the need to leave it alone for a bit.

Lovely multi-part fold-out package, demonstrating LD's quirky graphic design skills.

Happy summer solstice. That makes two and a half years since we began, without missing a day (Celebrate the Misery was Day 10).

MusicBrainz entry for this album Listen to one measly track from this album in full at Last.fm

Comments

[LD Beghtol]

thanks for your very kind words about the flare record. funnily enough, damian (my then band-mate) and i had never heard/heard of hugo largo when we made this record. we recorded the mimi song because damian liked it fomr a moby album and though it was suted to my voice and our style - i thoght it would be fun to put the four chords in the wrong order so that half of the time i would be singing purposeful dissonances... very much out thing at that moment.

anyhow, when the record came out some friend mentioned hugo largo and when we did research we found that mimi g was hugo largo and it was funny/sad and sort of perfect for us. claudia gonson gave her a copy of the record, but i never heard anything about her opinion of our version.

xox ldb