For our take on why Silk Flower's self-titled album rules, go here.
Silk Flowers is an appropriate name for this quirky electro-band, the offspring of members of Soiled Mattress and the Springs and Car Clutch. They’ve played with Animal Collective, Crystal Stilts and No Age, and they look real from a distance, but when you get close, and especially when you come in contact with them, they are immediately rendered phony.
From the squeaky keyboards of “Costume” to the broad vocal handicap of “Flash of Lights” they present us with clumsy phrasing and too much emphasis on the throaty vox at the expense of the song itself. On “Cheap Shot” they actually come across more like an avant-garde post-rock outfit than anything else, but they don’t do enough musically to overcome their quirks.
“Night Shades” storms in among the digital clatter and dances its way into a frantic noise-mesh, but it doesn’t go anywhere, and it ends up sounding like directionless house music. “Sand” goes after the blissed-out crowd with a sluggish silliness that sounds like Digital Underground played at 16 RPM. Not good. It just can’t overcome its own tedium.
