Many bands and artists claim not to fit into any genre, sound, or style. But those that make the biggest noise about this lack of conformity are often the ones that actually fit neatly into one pigeon-hole, and not just that; they probably don’t take up that much creative space within even that demarcation. Well, such an accusation could never be leveled at 14 Flamingos, a band who, by their own reckoning, “explore intercultural rhythms from Brazil to the Balkans.” Even that span of genre and geography doesn’t do their eclecticism and experimental ways justice.
At times, they feel like a walk through a haunted, second-hand music shop, one that has come alive in the depths of the night, and the instruments are reliving their former lives. And even though the music that this spectral orchestra creates is a combination of all manner of musical styles, many which have no business hanging out in the same space, it somehow works—and works brilliantly.
If “Apocalypse Man” is the sound of Leonard Cohen jamming with Nick Cave, dark and delicious, poetic blues as the soundtrack for the last party before Armageddon, a song shot through with country licks and resonant rockabilly twangs, Doorsian organs and danceable grooves, the band’s titular track is eerie, Tom Waits-infused Latin grooves, built on liquid licks and chiming keyboards.
It is easy to drop names, but even that holy sonic tryptic mentioned above – Cohen, Cave and Waits – should be taken merely as a guideline. After all, just as there is no one doing quite what those people do/did, there is nothing quite like 14 Flamingos. You just have to discard any expectations and preconceptions, dive right into this glorious ep, and see where it takes you. I can guarantee it will be somewhere you haven’t been before, probably somewhere you couldn’t even point to on the sonic map. Isn’t it great when that happens?
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