Flamingos in the Tree balance heavy emotion and laid-back beats

Today, most rock and alternative bands stick to a pretty simple formula in terms of instrumentation.

In 90% of bands, you’re going to see a bass, a drum kit and one or two guitars. That’s it, take it or leave it. Not a lot of diversity there. But it wasn’t always that way. For a while, rock bands used to be pretty adventurous with the instruments they chose. The Beatles were going halfway across the world to learn how to play instruments from Indian classical music to use on “Rubber Soul,” and then they hired an entire orchestra for “Abbey Road.”

They may have popularized the four-person lineup, but they certainly didn’t stick to it. They’re not the only classic band to try new instruments out either. “Pet Sounds” from the Beach Boys would be nothing without the organ and piano at the heart of each song. You could go on and on about Electric Light Orchestra, Steely Dan, the Doobie Brothers and all the other bands from that era who were really getting creative with instrumentation. This isn’t even talking about Frank Zappa and the avant-garde, experimental side of rock from that era.

Alas, nothing good lasts forever. As time went on, the four-member lineup of two guitars, drum and bass started to get cemented further and further as law. 80’s hair metal bands only bothered with piano or strings during power ballads, and the big grunge bands of the 90’s stripped things down even further. Props to Nirvana for hiring a cello player for a while (it’s true, look it up), but that wasn’t enough to turn things around. Rock bands don’t really experiment with diverse instrumentation anymore.

For me, this is why Flamingos in the Tree are such a breath of fresh air. There’s a ton more ambition in terms of instrumentation here than I’ve heard in a while. Across this album, you’re going to hear both real strings and synthesized ones. There’s a lot of slide guitar and clean electric guitar sprinkled in, usually doused in a healthy amount of reverb. “In Ur Arms” has some wonderful electric pianos, while “There’s Something About Sunflowers” is assisted by a horn section. This is just a small sample of the kinds of instruments being busted out all over this album.

You’d think with all of that going on “Sunsets I Had W U” would be noisy and chaotic, but that’s not the case. There’s a lot of blank space here. It’s not an overwhelming album that pounds down on you. It’s light, danceable and pleasant. The overall restrained sound makes the few moments they do decide to turn it up a notch that much more impactful.

Since the band isn’t trying to overwhelm you with a wall of sound, there’s room for a bunch of little hooks and leads hidden under the surface. Most of these songs are about two and a half minutes long, but there’s a ton of idea crammed into each one. This is the type of album that makes me feel bad for writing simple four-chord rock songs.

On top of this, you have the vocals. Those point in a totally different direction from the music, though. There’s a lot of angst here. Google was unable to tell me who the lead singer for this band is. But if anyone can figure it out, do me a favor—check in on the guy for me, will ya? Because there is a lot of heavy emotion hiding away in these songs.

On “Asking for a Friend” the singer is using more vocal fry then I’ve ever heard on a song this jazzy before. The singing in the chorus of “In the Orange Groves” is, again, pretty aggressive for a song this laid back. Then you have songs like “Hearts Tied” and “In Ur Arms” which have these absolutely crushing vocal melodies. Combined with this, you have a lot of harmonies backing up the main melody to elevate the album even further. I think the more conservative nature of this album is going to make a lot of people overlook how emotionally intense this record can be.

Something about contrasting this really groovy, laid-back yacht rock with super angsty vocals and lyrics makes me happy. It’s kind of like what the Smiths were going for, except the Smiths are kind of lame. But Flamingos in the Tree are the total opposite. These guys rock. I’ll be honest and admit that I don’t listen to a lot of the modern indie scene.

Maybe all of the aspects I like about these guys are more common than I thought. But to me, this is the first band I’ve heard in a while that’s really clicked with me like this. “Sunsets That I Had W U” is a special album. There’s a lot of great stuff in here, and I think everyone who hears this album is gonna love it. The only complaint I have is with the album title. It’s a silly name. Should have gone the self-titled route. We’ll see what they come up with on their sophomore release.