SAAND
Winter will melt, summer will thrive. Flex Cop‘s Headed Home is an endless reservoir of hands-in-the-air jams glistening with deep disco and melodic overtones. The Australian-based producer, fueled by the success of his My Honeys free EP has enlisted the man of the moment Stee Downes to grace the EP with his signature vocals. The release is a journey that travels far over the three originals whilst the two remixes provide detours off the beaten track yet staying relevant to the story.
Kicking off with ‘Headed Home’ and wasting time to lay deep disco foundations analog bass, brass stabs and strings ebb and flow with the vocals guiding the track to the centerpiece breakdown, wherein the disco hook emerges to see the listeners through to the end. This chapter is not without its own turns as the track slides into a second breakdown accompanied by mellotron strings creating a brief sense of melancholy before the track resumes course. The story continues with ‘If You Only Knew’, the most uplifting and feel-good tune of the originals. Stee’s vocals shimmer between shaking tambourines and deep bass conjuring images of an endless sunset drive. When things seem to be going as well as can be, the breakdown ushers in a second wave of euphoria with a soulful brass section over the fading out “can’t hide it’s” from Stee. U2-esque guitars wash over the whole track to provide the cherry on top of a very sweet indulgence.
‘Thing or Two’ throws the listener into the deep end, Benoit & Sergio meets Prince if you will. Subtle sporadic clambering of drum sticks, delayed zaps dancing in the stereo field and slowly emerging synth lines, tick tick tick. As with all Flex Cop songs thus far, the breakdown figures prominently. Here synths are allowed to fade out slowly to create suspense yet engaging enough to have the audience in baited breathes. Audiences would be forgiven for wondering if they have stumbled into a Hollywood scoring stage for what transpires next. Angelic strings descend from the above that build with the same poise that the synths faded. By full crescendo there could be up to 30 pieces playing before the drop. With the strings still reverberating from Thing or Two Flex Cop decided to take the key elements from the original and turn it into a brooding acoustic piece of art, aptly named Thing or Two (De-Mixed & Re-Strung). Benoit & Sergio comparisons now become Nicolas Jaar ones. A cinematic opening sequence immediately signals that things are different with phrases inviting new acoustic elements from a howling Ibanez to a Spanish steel string. Throughout the track piano licks bring a beautiful consistency that gently reiterate a hook amongst other licks. Stee, now a few semitones deeper, now flirts with the bass below. The second remix of Thing or Two makes no mistake with its title, Sunshine Euphoria rides high. Nearly a remix of the De-Mixed & Re-strung remix, here Flex Cop opens with the same strings that the previous finished with however with a new chord progression. Piano and brass make a return in the form of licks and stabs that build towards the breakdown, where the brass then takes centre stage in a definitive ‘hands in the air’ climax. This is disco and life is good.
Artist: Flex Cop
Title: Headed Home EP
Label: Cream Couture Records
Catalog No.: CCR012