By Jennifer Smits. Photo Credit: Erick Anderson.
Nashville-based synth-rock duo Flarelight consists of the current percussionist for Queen + Adam Lambert, Tyler Warren and Eventide endorsed guitarist, Rachel Brandsness. Brandsness has played with numerous groups, providing the opportunity to open for bands such as Evanescence, Neon Trees and Halestorm, while Warren has been busy touring the world and playing to sold out arenas, even recently performing at Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee at Buckingham Palace.
The music of Flarelight’s new album The Light We Make is, plainly, a sonic meteorite. As it plummets through the thick atmosphere of music history, stripping away layers of stylistic artifice, it streamlines itself as it prepares for impact. With an ingrained appreciation of the greats and an even greater ear for technological innovation, Flarelight’s new album shows the band in top form, combining effortless melody with the hard rock edge of their forebears.
Cleverly letting each song speak for itself, the band marches through a variety of genres (e.g. synth-rock, hard rock and shoegaze, just to name a few) but are held together through Brandsness and Warren’s virtuosic riffs and fiery back-and-forth vocals. Leading off with single “Make Me Sick,” the album recalls the more driving and melodic Queens of the Stone Age cuts, like if Josh Homme worshiped Robert Smith instead of Iggy Pop. The vital drums and pronounced riffs rebel against the melody, creating a tension that finally finds release in the sweltering chorus as Warren intones “You are the drug that makes me sick!”
But hard-edged songs like “Make Me Sick” only serve as the tip of the iceberg of what this band is capable of. Ripping guitars serve elsewhere to punctuate brooding synth-rock on “The Wolf,” and even morph into earth-shaking shoegaze on album highlights “Your Love is a Phantom” and “Little Black Dress,” which serves up a sticky wordless chorus.
For the time being, the band is going full force into their sophomore album, which is accompanied by a self-directed music video for early single “Make Me Sick.” One thing is for sure, with their undeniably thunderous playing, the alchemy of Flarelight's music is not to be missed.
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