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MUSIC REVIEW: Michael Jablonka – Flump

Ray A-J May 14, 2018

Flumps are soft right? Gooey and sweet. Not this one.


Thin.
Bare, calm then
Crash.

Thrashing driving, with gritty guitars, and fast bars. Driving hammering, drum beats come flooding in, all with the force of a muddy grunge band, in sticky dive bar, ready to demolish the sunken stage in front of them. A synergy of sonic hums and fuses brashly buzzes about the avid crowd. Shrieking feedback and muddy distortion squirms into the calamity, whining its rough riff.

The latest track from Michael Jablonka is nothing like its sweet namesake. With scratchy guitar whaling and gravelly chords, the song pays homage to the rock and punk aesthetic of The White Stripes, and doesn’t hesitate to blast eardrums and spit crunching harmonies.

Light, Sultry- a voice laced with buzzing electronics turns the thrashy rhythms and crunchy guitar riffs into a skeletal pit of drums and tumble weed. All of a sudden the driving intro of chaotic sharp guitars and distortion funnels out into a calm verse. Some respite. But the combative slicing sounds return once more to burst your ears as soon as the chorus kicks in.

Overall, the track is a fast paced meddle of strings and drums, lightly topped off with fresh vocals that seem to channel Royal Blood or Muse in the electricity and tickling falsetto. Jablonka has created a psychedelic mash of rock and grunge, that isn’t quite as nerve tickling as Nirvana, but still has some tear away moments of oddly pretty sounds.

To listen to Flump, click here:

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