Music review: Flour Babies’ ‘Landlocked’ – 'wild and arcane'

By Claire Dukes - 4 June 2019

Arts and Culture

There was a time when Flour Babies were a directionless racket – but something was there, something nascent.

Now the Swindon five-piece are releasing tracks like Landlocked: a cultivated and metaphysical antidote to indie boy bands chanting about break-ups.

From the first chime of the synth the single creates the beguiling romanticism of an 80s love song, entwined with a tormented vocal delivery – think Chris Issak’s Wicked Games with the sensibility of the Pixies. It feels hauntingly isolating and yet it is embedded with perplexing comfort, combining elements of tragedy with relentless hope. It is both wild and arcane.

Unlike most of their tracks Landlocked rings in a chorus which evokes an emotional mindset of being stuck in a position of unlimited space, and yet you’re tortured by the confinements of it – a perpetual state of disorientation. It’s no wonder Flour Babies have been donned as ‘nightmare-pop’ as Landlocked is instrumentally ethereal, and lyrically haunting.

LISTEN:

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WEBSITE: www.facebook.com/FlourBabies/

PHOTOGRPAHY: Sam Cashmore – www.sampcashmore.com

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