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Reviews

Flutatious — Festival
(Magick Eye MEYCD27, 2018, CD)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2018-05-27

Festival Cover art

Flutatious is a UK band that blends different elements from Celtic, psychedelic fok, progressive rock, and techno dance music. They are Michelle Devonshire (flute), Bill Forwell (bass), Stella Ferguson (violin), Andy Faulkner (guitar), Malcom Bailey (drums and percussion), and Gerald Williams (keyboards). Festival is their first full length album with wide distribution as well being available as a download and for streaming. Festival contains seven new tracks plus re-recordings of three of their past tracks, “Crystal Morning,” “Somewhere’s Near to Nowhere,” and “Tha I Ban.” By and large the ten tracks are instrumentals with occasional vocals or wordless humming. The album kicks off with the title track, with its heavy bass groove, strong guitar lines, keys, and flute that sets the stage for the rest of the disc. This strong opening track is a psych jam in the style of Ozric Tentacles or Mandragora. The rest of the album features soaring fiddle passages, groovy dance beats, improvised jamming, cascading electric guitar notes, and heavy motorik drumming. Malcolm’s style can become a bit overwhelming, leaving me looking for a respite to enjoy the rest of the band for themselves. It isn’t until the track eight “Rendezvous in Marrakesh” that Malcolm’s drums are not so in your face. Stella’s violin work carries this track through a fusion of mid-Eastern and progressive rock. Festival is a fun album, one where you can visualize people on the dance floor doing silly dances. But from a pure listening experience, I would have appreciated having the drums and percussion lower in the mix.

Filed under: New releases, 2018 releases

Related artist(s): Flutatious

More info
http://magickeye.com/releases?id=MEYCD27

 

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