New Music: Flower Drums - Don't Wait feat. St. South

I’ve exclusively listened to so much ‘future R & B’ lately that I’ve forgotten my affections for a good piece of indie synth pop. When I first heard Bad Websites, a new track Perth four-piece Flower Drums released a month ago, I remembered how great it felt to get washed up in a romantic synth-pop dreamscape, the kind that lets you fall in love with every hook, invest in emotional lyrics (There’s way too many midnight drives, and endless eyes on bad websites…”) and float back into whispery, echoey far-off vocals and ethereal synths.

Lead singer Leigh’s falsetto vocals favourably reminded me of one of my all-time favourite acts, How to Dress Well, and as I kept listening to Bad Websites over and over, my mind reminisced on other acts I’d been affectionate on not too long ago, namely Kaputt-era Destroyer, and Blood Orange, and I also weirdly remembered this New York indie band I used to get way into years ago, Twin Sister.

After launching Bad Websites in a smoky haze, surrounded by projections of palm trees, in a Walcott Street lounge room (see cover shot above), Flower Drums keep the momentum going, independently releasing a new track today, Don’t Wait, featuring Fremantle singer Olivia Gavranich, who performs as St. South, and does a none-too-shabby job on this Drake cover (knew I'd find a way to bring this back to R & B haha). “We wrote the beat about six months ago and then kinda forgot about the track,” tells Craft to Pilerats on the creation of Don’t Wait, “Out of curiosity I thought it would be cool to see what Olivia would do vocally on the beat. Once she recorded her verse, we finished the rest of the song super quickly.” 

The track isn’t as spiky as Bad Websites; instead it rolls at a hazier pace, with a highlight being the vocal interplay between Craft and St. South’s woozy, bewitching folk vocals. There’s a nice moment featuring some stripped back, bars of art-poppy electric guitar, too. It’s a smooth, lovelorn number, without being cheesy, and the whole’s thing's characterised by a super-endearing, messy kind of melancholy. Don't Wait will feature on Flower Drums’ EP 28 Mansions out early next year, alongside Bad Websites. Tell you what, based on the strength of those first two tracks, looks like it’s gonna be a heck of an EP that should witness Flower Drums receiving some serious national attention. 

Flower Drums have just this week dropped some fine-looking merch – head to their Bandcamp shop HERE to kit yourself out.  Here’s Leigh demonstrating his modelling steez: 

Below: St South

UPCOMING GIGS:

Thu Dec 18 - Diger Rokwell Single Launch, The Bird, Northbridge, details HERE