Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Black Fly, Samedi Records 2021.
Black Fly is an experimental electro pop composer from Vermont USA that I’ve just discovered on Bandcamp and I love what he’s doing.
Few people know the artist’s name, or identity, which is a clever marketing ploy and goes with his performance name. Black flies can be a real pest.
The reviewer at Consequence Of Sound introduced Black Fly as follows:
“Deep in the wilderness of Vermont sits a house. Inside that house is a bedroom, and in that bedroom works the mysterious Black Fly.”
His instruments of choice appear to be keyboards and computer-generated sounds and while sampled sounds and computer-generated instruments can often sound too mechanical, false, and predictable in the wrong hands Black Fly has the skill to avoid falling into that trap.
He produces interesting soundscapes for each track that create an atmospheric backdrop to support the lyric content.
And that really is what makes his work stand out from many of the other electro pop offerings available at the present time.
Black Fly writes interesting songs and the experimentation in sound is only there to support the song, it’s not an end in itself.
The charm of Black Fly’s music is that it’s not predictable, there’s ambiguity, great percussive feel, and layers of swirling sound to ensnare the listener.
Apparently, this album is an amalgam of older material mixed with new tracks but it’s all new to me.
There’s not a bad song or filler on the 10-track album.
My favourite tracks are Sign 2, Green, Z’s Ocean and Cabbage, although it’s one of those albums that my choices seem to change with every listen.
