With a tonic of indiscernible sounds, sultry bass lines, snappy percussion, colourful guitars, and hauntingly elusive vocals, The House Flies beguile the listener with their recent EP, Glimmer. The solo recording project of Murnau's Alex Riggen, The House Flies delivers a gothic brand of alternative post-punk, obscuring emotionally led songs with reverb, effects, and loose playing and singing styles that give a dreamy, darkly spacious vibe.
Indeed, these alternative tracks may have an element of darkness to them in the hysteric vocal deliveries and industrial drums and guitar sound. However, there is also beauty to be found, notably on the melodic "Sequin", which turns Riggen's sometimes alienating work into something intimate, with a lyrical lament about escapism and the power of now ("it's only you and me, no need to care about eternity"). Something is refreshing about this music. Riggen trades coherency for painterly sentiments, making his songs abstract but still representational. While his vocals can sometimes come across as weakly delivered, like on the muzzy "Blue", this delivery's innocence helps reinforce the EP's childlike experimentation. The bass-heaviness of the arrangements is best realised on "Apple", the hypnotic closing track which repeats a straightforward melody tinged in melancholy before distorted guitars wail like fire alarms.
What these songs lack in clarity and coherency, they make up for in mood and style. While no individual track is memorable, taken as a whole, the intoxicating environment and sense of creativity of this EP are likely to follow you around well after listening.
★★★½