Do you ever hear a band for the 1st time, and within a few seconds have an instinct you’ll like them? Probably fairly rarely…. but to me, Flannelmouth, with their cute indie pop guitar opening of ‘Island’ (from their new album ‘I am the Town’), are that band. And with laid back melodic vocals, a neat and tidy band sound, and carefully constructed songs, its difficult not to like an album which seems so effortless and natural.
For some reason I’ve always liked the idea of albums in homage to your home city, town or region, (I think it was ‘Metronomy’s English Riviera’ which did it for me), and Flannelmouth do a great job in ‘I am the Town’, with their generally upbeat appreciation of Helsinki, even if the lyrics and vocals are often tinged with sadness.
After the perfect indie popness which is ‘Island’, we soon arrive at a highlight of the album ‘Forgotten Tapes’, (which has an nice accompanying video ), a song which suits the naturally melancholic vocals. Both this track and ‘The Key’ reminds me of Uk indie bands such as Idlewild, although the versatility of Flannelmouth is then shown with ‘I am the Town’, which switches style to a rocking crowd rousing cry to take to the streets and repossess the place that they all love.
Although its not a ‘heavyweight’ album filled with indie classics, ‘I am the Town’ is a really likeable little gem that I hope many more people will discover, and Flannelmouth have a lovely indie pop sound which I’ll never tire of. They’re already busy writing their next album, which i look forward to hearing and perhaps one day I’ll be lucky enough to see them playing live –in Helsinki Town of course.…
Nordic Music Review 7.5/10