by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Power-pop comes in all shapes and sizes. Usually sweet and sticky with infectious melodies, there's also the punk element of the genre which generally equates to being blown out beyond belief, often to great effect. Which brings us to Psychic Flowers, the latest project from punk polymath David Settle, best known for Tallahassee's Ex-Breathers and Big Heet. While Settle has since left Florida for Philadelphia, Psychic Flowers lives on, hell, it's really only getting started. The band's debut EP, By Design, due out via Luau Records, features the band's first two songs (previously released on Bandcamp) and a cover of Wipers "Let's Go Away". It's all blown out and jittering with melodic propulsion. Recorded to an 8-track TASCAM cassette recorder, Settle is joined by Ronnie Francisco (Big Heet, Protocol) on drums.
When the first crack of distortion hits on "By Design" there's an immediate disorienting sense. You've just been blasted by a wall of lo-fi clamor and it feels good, real good. The song rallies against the "high-rent high-rise monstrosity" that plagues our cities, a daydream of tearing down the monotonous monuments of gentrification, delivered with a reckless exuberance despite it all. We are talking #PowerPop after all. "Echoes In The Glow" rings with a similar avalanche of crushing guitars, crushing bass, and yup, crushing drums. This one is loud, fuzzy, and filled with thoughts of what could have been. Rounding out the brash collection is "Let's Go Away," a cover of the Wipers' classic. Psychic Flower's take is faithful but undeniably more vicious, taking the post-punk groove of the original and transferring it to match their own sonic onslaught.
Psychic Flowers' By Design is out March 23rd via Luau Records.