…rewind, FLOUR FLOUR 1997 FM
Flour Flour 1997 FM is available at Bandcamp, Apple Music, Spotify.
by Walter Price
Personally, I dig heeps of nostalgia. The good, bad, and the ugly. I also love much about Shirley Manson. So, I’m not fully on board with the full message of Flour Flour’s “1997 FM” and its seeming disdain for the particular year when Garbage, The Verve, and the like were ruling FM Radio. On the other hand, I do agree that too much faith can be heaped on the past. To the point of ad nauseam.
The Berkeley-based outfit’s Brian Baughn gave me his thoughts on the new single, “(1997 FM), A song about my (and everyone’s) creepy fascination with nostalgia. I wanted to ape the breakbeat-based sound of hits like “Your Woman” or “Bitter Sweet Symphony”, both from ’97,” he continues, “The play on words “feel like Garbage again” is there because to me personally, Garbage is one of those bands that was never great, but is still good for like a trip down memory lane. As such they give rise to the paradox of the song: the desire to return, even to mediocre times.”
When you kind of feel like Garbage again
Tune in
Turn it up
Drift off
Slip back
Rewind
Back in time
On 1997 FM
Shake your faith to the sound
Of growing up and feeling down
Tune in
Turn it up
Drift off
Slip back
Rewind
Back in time…
I get it and the message here is astute and the track is as cerebral and catchy as anything Flour Flour has previously released. Choke-full of snappy melody, the before mentioned breakbeat is, of course, retro and familiar, hints of psych, and there’s certainly plenty of dark humor throughout. Everything you’d expect from the crafters of “High in the Basement” and “Three Eyes“.
I guess that the overall message here is to not fully put all your worth in who and/or what once was. Which is more than fair. Form your own creepy opinions by streaming “1997 FM”, now at the GTC.
FLOUR FLOUR 1997 FM
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Article cover photo via Bandcamp // Quotes courtesy of Flour Flour
Music // Lyrics by Flour Flour
Mixed by Alberto Hernandez
Artwork by Elena Fortune
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“Flour Flour takes on the darker side of nostalgia with their new single “1997 FM”, examining the past as an escape. Nineties breakbeats and eerie, dripping synth lines help paint a scene of a protagonist retreating to a time that’s familiar, even if the music wasn’t that memorable, even if he didn’t necessarily feel good in the titular year. That the past can be comforting in spite of sizable shortcomings raises questions about the value of progress that can’t be easily dismissed. As the lyric in the bridge entreats us, “Shake your faith to the sound of growing up and feeling down.” – bio