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Unique, ingenious and original… just some words used by Flipron yea-sayers to describe their style, sound and previous work. For those unfamiliar and unaware of their musical slant, don’t worry, you haven’t missed as much as their devout supporters would have you otherwise believe and proof of this fact comes in the form of album number three. Produced by former Damned drummer Rat Scabies ‘Gravity Calling’ wont deliver you from ignorance or provide musical enlightenment and if anything is served by many as standard storytelling fayre and sounds quirkily familiar.
Subtly announcing itself on the opening track ‘Mavis’ the shadows of familiarity seep into ‘Dreams Of Wealth And Power’ and continue through ‘Book Of Lies’. They’re so subtle, that it takes a while to realise that front-man Jesse Budd has more than a faint whiff of the Barat about him. But to entertain the idea that Flipron are pilfering an established trademark and attempting to cash in nostalgic Libertine sympathy votes would at best be short sighted and at worst wrong. It does however take repeated listening to uncover the vaudeville punk persuasion of Flipron’s structure, aesthetic and delivery. A cluttering of thoughts amid a menagerie of instrumentation (from accordion, harmonica, lap steel guitar to charity shop treasures), Budd, a versatile lyricist, leads his team of marauding troubadours past the off-pop chain-gang of the title track, through the twice removed gypsy-blues pantomime ‘A Scoundrels Apology Almost’ and onto the Bugsy Malone infested fairground ride that is ‘Tropical Disease’ with nothing but music for sustenance.
The kind of band capable of penning and bursting into song at a moments notice, this admirable (if not sometimes annoying) quality can at times unwittingly block sincerity with unintended theatrical novelty. And while their melting pot of styles is eclectically mind boggling, there are limits to how much can be absorbed in one session and although not intellectually challenging ‘Gravity Calling’ is at times too much like hard work, forgoing a potentially far reaching appeal in favour of an overly appreciative individual one.
