Free Flights Up (FFU)
See You Soon Mini LP
With a selection of songs that range from energetic guitar rock (with a touch of clever musicality) to laid back liquid indie, Free Flights Up release their debut, ‘See You Soon’, under their own Diseased Peach label.
Rocking triplets open ‘Couldn’t Have Done it Without You’, which mellows for the verse using palm muted guitars and Stiltskin-esque vocals. The chorus sees the return of the crashing triplets.
In contrast, ‘If I Could’, is a chilled tune with crystal clear electric guitar and subtle harmonies. Interest is provided by an intriguing musical break just before the three minute mark, before things lead up to an emotional middle section.
‘Tupperware Chair’ makes a start with backwards guitar sounds and simple bass guitar. There is also some quality piano notes that lurk in the background of this song, which overall sounds quite a bit like one of Coldplay’s slower moments.
Things remain subdued for ‘It’s Your Birthday’, which supplies the title to the record in the chorus lyrics. This track is a close relative to ‘If I Could’, with similar guitar work and overall direction.
‘Capothree’ (which evidently refers to the position of the capo on the acoustic guitar) is a slightly pacier number that adds a bit more drive and positivity to the theme of the previous three songs leaving things rock back up again for ‘You Are I Am’, which has the stickiest chorus on the album. Plenty of chops and changes appear throughout the structure of this track with builds and falls that all essentially lead to that great big chorus.
The emotional melody in ‘eMVy’ is the most mature on the LP with really good range throughout the verse. This is a big track that has potential as a stadium-style anthem nearly reaching the six minute mark before final track ‘Under the Sea’ rounds off the album with some prominent piano and acoustic guitar.
Free Flights Up have a decent understanding of song writing, but need to be careful to ensure that each of their songs has its own identity. The rockier numbers seem to have more content than the other tracks, with more creative ideas and individuality than the acoustic material. There is also a clear combination of influences that include Longview and Coldplay for the emotional indie chilled tunes, which could also include early Delirious as far as the epic sensibilities of ‘eMVy’ are concerned.
‘See You Soon’ is a strong debut that hints at a future potential which, if realised, could see some incredibly creative song writing from this well cemented four piece.
Written by Fenton on
