After a summer of major milestones, the Seattle-based trio the Flavr Blue is about to deliver their most anticipated release yet: The Love Notes EP, a collection that marries the group’s crackling energy with a soulful musical wisdom inherited from influences ranging from Cut Copy and Miike Snow to Feist and Sade. Within just this year, the band put on a show-stealing main stage performance at Seattle’s Capitol Hill Block Party that landed them on the front page of the Seattle Times, has seen their single “We Can Go Blind” play in heavy rotation on Sirius XM, and had one-off collaborations “U Crazy” and “Pretty Girl” crack 100,000 plays on Soundcloud. Their latest single, “Feathers,” was Song of the Day and in regular rotation at Seattle’s vaunted indie station KEXP, and they’ve gotten enthusiastic coverage from the likes of Billboard and Complex.
The band’s success is driven by the way its members — lead singer Hollis Wong-Wear, whose voice graced the Billboard Top 20 hit “White Walls” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, and singer/producers Lace Cadence and Parker Joe, each with a litany of Seattle hip-hop and R&B releases under their belts — weave their voices and eclectic experimentalism within a rich electronic landscape. It’s been that way since the beginning, when they first built tracks in a half-bedroom turned studio in Parker’s Beacon Hill townhouse. It grew as they translated the sounds to wild live shows, for crowds both charmed and electrified by their combination of heartfelt soul and energetic electronica. Even Questlove tweeted his affection for the band’s live performance after watching their set at the Brooklyn Bowl.
The Flavr Blue: Majesty
Love Notes pushes the Flavr Blue’s sound further still, toward an even deeper musicality; they effortlessly blend a range of textures that recall Aaliyah’s slinky sensuality, Beach House’s washed out reverberations, and Prince’s fidelity to the pop hook. The music is still passionately handmade; Love Notes, like releases before, is a true collaboration between three creative minds (and, like their earliest music, was recorded mostly in that same half-bedroom). It’s that spirit — a collective enveloping and integrating of new sounds, their DIY ethos matched with a captivating polish— that truly defines the Flavr Blue, and makes their future so promising. In celebration of the release of Love Notes, The Flavr Blue will be performing in select cities nationwide, with a more extensive tour to come at the top of 2016. Highlights include performing with Kiesza on November 10 at Exchange LA as part of the Red Bull 30 Days in LA Festival, curating a lineup as part of Brooklyn’s Knit Ball on November 18, and a special appearance at the W Hotel in Boston on November 19.
The Flavr Blue: Majesty Lyrics:
