The Falling Floors – s/t
download: The Falling Floors
Listen to I Wanna Be Your Friend:
Every so often a band comes along and completely blows you away. The Falling Floors are one of those bands. It didn’t happen straight away for me. I first head from this Manchester psychedelic-pop outfit back in late 2008 when they contributed ‘If You Say No’ to Daydream Generation 5. It was a spiky, upbeat little anthem of feelgood guitar pop music, something plucked from 1966 full off ‘ooh-la-la’s’ and a melody so infectious that it was almost shameful. It hinted at good things, but it took a lot longer for me to dig around enough to find out just how good.
Arguably one of the real stand-out records from the Quixodelic Invisible Box-Set, ‘Hey! Midnight’ packed a deeper, more experimental psychedelic punch. The pop was still there, but frequently it was buried under brilliant layers of drone and backwards guitars. To think it was written and recorded in just a couple of months made it somehow even more incredible and I think that’s when the kaleidoscopic alarm bells began to ring in my brain. What Jolan and his fellow Floors are able to do is not just imitate all your favourite bands from the most immense decade of music, but to consistently produce songs that sound like they have been genuinely transported from another time and place, when things were much simpler and music was untainted with a world-weary cynicism.
The discovery of this self-titled full-length 10 song record appearing magically one winter afternoon on CLLCT was the proof that ‘Hey! Midnight’ was no fluke. If anything, this debut recording made sometime in 2008 is even more catchy, jammed with so many great songs you feel you have heard somewhere before, even though you know you are hearing them for the first time. ‘If You Say No’ is just the tip of the iceberg. Sitars zing, guitars riff, organs swirl and drums roll. Cool rolling basslines underpin every track and vocal harmonies sing songs like ‘Eucalyptus’, and ‘I Wanna Be Your Friend’ into a world that once you tune into, you just can’t leave until the very last note of the immense ‘Goodnight Sleepyhead’ rings out. Eastern tinged tracks like ‘Chambers’ and ‘Theme From Daishishi’ are musical jewels, spaced-out sounds that make you want to kick off your shoes, take some LSD, and find the nearest field or dance-floor with enough room to freak out on.
The most beautiful thing about The Falling Floors is that they make it sound sincere. If you know where to look then the psychedelic sounds of the 21st century are dime a dozen, and in most cases it sounds forced or intentionally retro. Cool for the sake of coolness. With these guys they really sound like they can’t do it any other way and are having the time of their lives while they do it. It’s the real thing… and it’s happening right here and right now. You might have missed the 60s, but if you’re anywhere near Manchester then you could do a lot worse than dropping in on a gig. However, if like me, you’re a million miles away from Manchester then a record like this has got to be worth taking a chance on.
My new favourite band of 2010 and I can’t champion someone much more than that.
Yours sincerely, completely blown away.
Find out more about The Falling Floors at:
http://cllct.com/art/thefallingfloors
Carousel Horse and Theme from ‘Daishishi’ is reminiscent of early Camper Van, when they were experimenting and having a blast. And I’ve been enjoying Do You Feel Uptight off DG8. That accompanying mando sound is tight.
Dig it.