Recensie
Background Magazine
(Arthur Haggenburg)
NederSymfo Nite 1
I'm entering a cozy pub. I immediately smell the atmosphere I like so much: a group of equal-minded people gathered together to have an enjoyable evening either by listening to the music or by playing it themselves. The venue is not very ambitious. The name (Podium = Stage) suggests a kind of theatre, but the stage is situated between three brick walls at one side of the room and is just large enough to facilitate the bands. But no one is bothering. Fluxury (picture 1), a starting Dutch band, took the initiative to organise a symfo festival. I like to go to festivals because they give you a nice opportunity to discover new bands for which the treshold to go to a solo gig would be rather large. The known bands make it worthwile to go anyhow. On the other side it is also more attractive for the venues because more people are visiting the gigs.
Salmon is the first band to climb the stage. They play melodic rock in the 1970's vein, with classical influences. The advanced compositions are on the level of conservatory graduates. Well-refined guitar and keyboard playing, especially the bass lines are very attractive. Technically very good but not overly complex and definitely without neglecting the emotional side of the music. You can enjoy it by letting it come to you, but if you dig a little deeper you will notice how rich the compositions are and get pleasure from the songs over and over again. They started with two new songs: 'King for a day'and 'Time to fantasize'. In previous gigs we could already enjoy earlier versions of these promising songs. I'm looking forward to their new CD, planned to be released in the beginning of the next year. After the highlight Á void'they announced to start with the last song. So soon? Luckily this song is an epic of more than 20 minutes. It's called 'A second life with heart and soul' and is one of the better tracks of their debut album 'Decade reference'. You could see that not only the audience loved it; also the musicians enjoyed the playing. Salmons, keep swimming against the 'mainstream'!
After a short break the seven musicians of the host band found a place on the stage. Fluxury is a starting band. They play an attractive mix of different kinds of music. Although some characteristic elements from the 70's are present, they developed an own fresh style. 'We blend a symfonic- and a popsong mentality and spice it up with folk, psychedelics, jazz and baroque' as they state it themselves. Currently they record a follow-up album for their debut 'Lunar escape velocity'of 2001. They played several songs of it. The style of this new work is more in the symfo/prog direction, leaving their former more poppy style. The band has more musicians than usual, using an extra guitarist and a double keyboard section. This creates an oportunity to take advantage of, especially now they want to go in a more symfonic direction. However, the additional value has not been taken in full extend yet, or maybe we couldn't hear it because the sound levels of the different instruments were not well balanced. They will certainly work on this, just as they did with one of the weaker points of the debut album, the vocals. The largest improvement step has been the contribution of Ilse Kunst, a female singer who recently joined the band. In general you can state that the group has found a good basis for further development. They definitely don't lack enthousiasm, so we are going to hear more of them. It is certainly a group to keep track of.
Organising a festival is something you can learn from the third band, Flamborough head (picture 2). One week later they organized their 7th PogFarm festival of which you can read a review elsewhere in this magazine. This time they didn't have the load of the organisation and could concentrate fully on the music. In the third gig of this evening they proved that they are developing in a fast way. They played a very good set. Actually, to my opinion this was one of their best live performances. In the past a lack of routine resulted in a bit stressed performance. Recently they had several live gigs, which really paid off. They were more relaxed and you could feel that they really enjoyed playing. There was a good chemistry between the musicians. Together with the excellent compositions this resulted in a top gig. Real highlights were the new arrangements of 'Garden of dreams' (from 'defining the legacy') and 'Limestone rock' ('One for the crow'). Especially the guitar solo in the latter one brought me goosebumps. Except for the re-arrangements they also played three new songs: 'Higher ground', 'Maureen' and 'Year after year'. Very good compositions with highly emotional content. These are certainly songs that will grow when you listen more often to them. As in all songs of Flamborough head all musicians tell their own story, none of them is dominant. Every musician gets the oportunity to excel, what they do! As always with good acts, the end came too early. But anyhow, this was a worthy final of the 'Nedersymfo Nite'.
Although this was the first time for the people of Fluxury to organize a festival it turned out to be managed very well. They succeeded in meeting the tight time schedule and were able to create the right atmosphere. I'm looking forward to next year's version, and hope it will become a tradition.
(Text and pictures by Arthur Haggenburg).
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