Flook are good as a folk band, that's undeniable; but they become fantastic when they mess with the traditional formula, adding beats and effects to create a 21st century monster.
During their first set at Brighton's packed out Komedia, it was obvious that they were a band of confident professionals, able to play traditional music (f)lawlessly and with all the rambling stories, anecdotes and between songs banter you expect from wandering folkies. Using two flutes, bodhran and guitar the band played a downright funky set, with an occasional growling accordian and tin whistles adding extra textures to the sound. It was when they returned for a second set that things got really interesting, though.
There had already been an undercurrent of something unusual, and during the interval I compared them (to somewhat blank looks from my companion, it must be said) to Hawkwind and Ozric Tentacles. It was hard to say what led to the comparison - the way Sarah Allen's alto flute was playing basslines, that John Joe Kelly's Bodhran sounded like a full drumkit, the occasional aggression of Ed Boyd's guitar or frontman Brian Finnegan's elfish persona?
But when they opened the second half, with a set of tunes titled Flutopia, it became obvious why I wasn't far of the mark.
It was the way that, despite almost psychedleic excursions on recurring themes, the whole band kept locked onto a laser-guided goodtime groove. Suddenly, with digital effects and loops bouncing around the quadrophonic Komedia soundscape, Flook were inventing something new.
It seems obvious, really, that music created now should reference more than just traditional jigs, reels and laments; how could any musician not have noticed jazz, psychedelia, punk and dance along the way? But too many folk outfits are willing to just play old tunes old ways, and what make Flook great is that, acknowledging and interpreting these influences, they have used them to create a whole new sound.
Flook come back this way on Saturday 28th february, for a gig at Crawley's Hwath Theatre. Try and be there.
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