Flotation Walls
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Flotation Walls

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"Flotation Walls: Nature [TLOS CD Pick]"

I saw art-pop band Flotation Walls a few weeks ago at PA’s Lounge with friends St. Claire, who have known the band since their high school days in Columbus, OH. St. Claire’s lovely lead singer had told me good things about the band, but I had already decided that I wasn’t going out to the show. Luckily a solid text message guilt trip broke through my shownertia (See what I did there??? Brilliant.) and I made it out. Their live show totally blew me away: you can read all about it here.

I purchased their album, Nature, at the show, and haven’t stopped listening to it since. It’s a masterfully produced, lush, layered album; it’s dynamically varied, brilliantly arranged, and totally unique.

The album opens with the life-affirming “Sperm & Egg,” which starts out as a lilting, French-café style waltz in which frontman Carlos Avendaño sings sweetly about impregnation. The track expands to include cymbal-heavy textural drums and one of the album’s constant choral motifs. “Sperm & Egg” segues into “Worms,” a frantic, sample-heavy electronica piece about death. The song ends with a choral track and moves into “Kids, Look at the Waves,” an elegant acoustic-guitar based love song with an unexpectedly strong bridge. The fourth track, “The Flickering Projection” is one of my favorites on the album. Structure-wise, it’s more straight-ahead than the preceding tracks, but the dynamics keep it totally interesting, and the backing choral tracks are expertly deployed to gorgeous effect on the catchy-as-hell chorus.

Even on tracks that are less existential in nature and more narrative, like the almost precious “Willis the Fireman” and surreal “Timmy Twofingers,” Flotation Walls exhibit a musical seriousness that gives the album real heft. There are no throwaway tracks. “Frozen Lake”, “Body,” and the lovely paean “I’ve Seen Death and His Tremendous Pink Eyes” are all gorgeous in scope. The only comparisons that come to mind, at least in terms of arrangement, are the vast songscapes of Sigur Ros or Arcade Fire. Nature is a big, ambitious album, and every track feels important. My favorite is tension-laden track nine, “The Sky Ejaculates,” which starts softly and sweetly, breaks halfway through for a beautifully orchestrated interlude, and then cracks into a spare, powerful bridge.

The album closes tastefully with the quiet acoustic guitar and piano-based “Wet With Light.” I was surprised, at first listen, with the subtlety of the final track, but I appreciate how calmly the album ends. It feels complete; a beautifully conceived album from start to finish. - The Limits of Science


"Artists in Profile: Flotation Walls"

In the world of American indie-rock Columbus, Ohio isn't exactly on the radar of most people looking for up-and-coming bands. It's considered flyover territory by many but if the five members of Flotation Walls have anything to say about it the mid-sized Midwestern burg will soon have the eyes and ears of critics and fans from across the country.

Carlos Avendano officially started the band in 1996 describing this first incarnation as, "experimental and on the fly music made with casio keyboards, delay pedals, water coolers, a sampler an occasional guitar." After a few years the project shifted into more of a sort of rock collective with a rotating roster of players, however Avendano began looking for more structure and direction and in 2004 he began work in earnest on the band's first record. Slowly laying down and recording songs with the help of many friends and previous Flotation Walls players the album gradually began to take shape.

Playing these songs as a solo act around town, however, he realized that he wouldn't be able to capture the full aspect of the music on his own. He contacted some friends of his from the early recording sessions and soon enough pianist Anna Wuerth, bassist Zak Moses, and multi-instrumentalist (keyboards, guitar, violin) Ryan Stolte-Sawa were full-on members of the group. After a couple of months of practicing without percussion, Luke Brevoort got in touch with Carlos, jelled immediately with all of the members and came on as the group's drummer. As each new member joined, new dimensions were added to the music and soon enough the 5-piece was playing local shows in and around Columbus. Quick on the heels of these first shows came press photos, album art, a bit of Internet buzz and an upcoming spot in MTV2's On the Rise series.

Flotation Walls' huge, orchestral sound is vaguely reminiscent of a cleaner, less frantic Frog Eyes or a more melodic and richer Sunset Rubdown and while it's some of the most textured, involved music around it still maintains a crisp, compelling atmosphere. The four songs so far available on the band's Myspace page are tied together by this aesthetic but vary greatly in theme, tempo and mood. "Worms" is foreboding and slightly menacing before ending in a bright, tentatively hopeful chorus while "Kids Look at the Waves" is somber and reflective, matching the slow, sweet tones of the contemplative "Timmy Twofingers." The transformative "Willis the Fireman," however, is the highlight beginning with a soft melodic hum before delivering a dramatic, celebratory, grandiose climax.

The band's full debut, NATURE, is set to finish in early spring and if the tidbits already available are any indication it should be one of the high points of 2008. - Newsvine, MSNBC


"The Bright Side - Flotation Walls"

At first glance, Flotation Walls might appear to be the gimmicky cousin of Devo. Visually, the band’s yellow and black attire isn’t all that far from an orange jumpsuit. Musically, the beautiful layers of string arrangements and angelic choral orchestrations that are the core to FW’s sound are a far cry from new wave robotic rock. The only thing they might share in common is a synthesizer.

“The yellow shirts were kind of a reaction to people wearing black every day, almost like a uniform,” says vocalist and guitarist Carlos Avendano. “Now, it’s something that brings us altogether on stage as a group— and, of course, it’s just kind of fun.”

Flotation Walls was founded as an experimental electronic group in 1996 by Avendano, but started evolving into what they are today around 2004. Through mutual friends, Avendano met keyboard player Anna Wuerth, bassist Zak Moses and Ryan Stolte-Sawa, who plays violin, keyboards and guitar. Drummer Luke Brevoort, who was a fan of the band, joined up later after he liked the sound and brand of music the band was going for.

“I try to stay away from the typical indie rock guitar sound as much as possible,” says Avendano. “We try to put in something else in situations where you would typically put a guitar. Maybe some strings, maybe a tuba, just something different,” he said.

Their forthcoming album, Nature, which the band has been working on for about three years, is filled with layers upon layers of epic sounds. Behind the vocals of Avendano and the strings and keys, is a choir of backing vocals that are not easy to duplicate live. “We encourage the audience to sing those parts at the live show,” says Stolte-Sawa. “We like to think of them as our choir.” - C Magazine


"TOP Live and Local: Flotation Walls"

Flotation Walls invited TOP Live and Local to their rehearsal space at Junctionview Art Studios for a late-night acoustic performance of two tunes from their upcoming album.

A foursome of alt/art-rockers, Flotation Walls play a litany of instruments. The standards of course, full bass, piano, violin, guitar, bells, drums and the like; but in an effort to fully utilize their environment in this back-alley performance (listen for the police sirens and helicopter noise overhead) they turned bags of trash, wooden pallets, shopping carts and a dumpster into their own brand of percussive tools. Don't worry--it never sounded like an obnoxious recreation of Stomp.

What do they sound like? It's hard to say. A little arty, a little dramatic, dark, sincere, but still catchy. They played "Body" and "The Flickering Projection."

Watch TOP's Live Music Calendar online and in print every Thursday to catch their next show -- and check back for more artist profiles in the Other Paper's music series TOP Live and Local, featuring some of Columbus's best local talent. - The Other Paper


"MySpace Round Up"

Columbus, Ohio is by all accounts a lovely city. Home to the Ohio State University which has the largest college campus in the United States, there are clearly a hell of a lot of very gifted young people residing there. Are any of them as talented in their chosen field as Carlos Avendano aka Flotation Walls? Well, maybe there's a few, but not that many I'll wager.

Flotation Walls have been in existence for ten years now, their ever changing line up numbering over thirty members, the only constant of which is the core of the band and resident genius Avendano, who is currently accompanied by three musicians equally as accomplished as the man himself, namely Anna Wuerth, Zak Moses and Ryan Stolte-Sawa. Now, although Carlos tells me that lyrically he is heavily influenced by Scott Walker and Rod McKuen who in turn were influenced by another of his heroes, the great proto-punk Jacques Brel, its with his musical favourites that we start to see the blueprint for his psychedelic soundscapes. The four names he came up with were Os Mutantes, Ennio Morricone, The Kinks and The Aphex Twin and you can hear snippets of all of this startling array of talent in his beautifully arranged compositions. As well as The Kinks, Avendano has obviously listened to a lot of other British psychedelia of the, shall we say more whimsical nature, but he has brought that style bang up to date and firmly stamped his own unique identity on it. Just listen to the Bowie like splendour of Kids Look At The Waves with its eerie female harmonies, its one of those epics that draws you right into the speakers, or the joyous Willis The Fireman which bears a resemblance to The Polyphonic Spree.....but so,so much better!

I, like you have only heard the four songs available on their MySpace page, but if the rest of Flotation Walls output is of the same astonishing quality, then we are discussing a very special talent indeed. Keep your eyes peeled during the early months of 2008,when Nature, the album that these four gems have been recorded for gets released.

It may be tempting for Avendano and company to remain within the comfortable surroundings of his home city, but if word gets out and the cream really does rise to the top, then they just may not have any choice but to get out there and preach to the world.

-Mad Daddy - www.punk77.co.uk


"Columbus Alive Comfest Review"

It's taken Carlos Avendaño many years to release a Flotation Walls album, but now that Nature has seen the light of day and a consistent core band has found its footing, the future looks bright yellow. There was a lot of great music Saturday, but Avendaño's artful epics were a cut above. Of course, let's not discount the contributions of Zak Moses, Ryan Stolte-Sawa and especially the substitute drummer, who handled Luke Brevoort's intricate percussion parts with flair. By the time "Willis the Fireman" was through, that tent could well have been a stadium. - Columbus Alive!


"Comfest: Flotation Walls dissed by schedulers"

Flotation Walls have enough of an anthemic, larger-than-life sound to warrant better scheduling next year, especially following the release of Nature, an album that has the breathtaking beauty and operatic scope of a far more experienced band. If Comfest organizers are smart, the Walls will get to close on Friday or Saturday night next year. - The Other Paper


"New Album Review: Nature by Flotation Walls"

Nature, the debut album from Columbus, Ohio group Flotation Walls, hasn't stopped playing for me since I got my hands on the disc last week.

The album has received lots of positive press already, but I won't let that stop me from throwing my hat into the ring. Listen: this is the best disc I've heard this year.
The Sound

Flotation Walls have cultivated a unique sound somewhere between the ambitious orchestration of Arcade Fire, the dramatic indulgence of Bowie at his Bowiest, the excitement of The Flaming Lips and the layered complexity of Blonde Redhead. That they do it all without missing a beat is a feat that has be experienced - on the one hand, the simplest song on the album has something like 80 audio tracks mixed into it; on the other hand, even the most complex and layered textures on the disc do nothing to sacrifice their hooks and drive.

This is an art album - they have interesting things to say about meaningful subjects, and thematically the album rewards repeat listenings. But this is an art album produced by a group of people with a keen appreciation for pop music. It's ambitious and it's complex - but it's unpretentious and accessible, and lots of fun even when it's breaking your heart.
The Subject

The album's title, Nature, is no accident - but don't come expecting songs about sunsets and flowers. The nature they seek to explore is human - the songs play out thematically over the course of a human life. Consider the way the conception celebrated in raucous opener "Sperm and Egg" fades into the newborn heartbeat of the drums that open "Worms," the following track; there is a flow here.

The fact that said heartbeat opens a song about the inevitability of death should tell you something about what's to come - we get a spiritual journey from the innocence of childhood (the gorgeous, heartbreaking "Kids, Look at the Waves") to the stockpiled experiences of old age (the raging, futile "The Sky Ejaculates"); from existential despair (simple, sad and infectious "Body") into sacred, life-affirming meaning (anthemic concession "Willis the Fireman"); from self-absorbed adolescence (disarmingly catchy "The Flickering Projection") to the capricious cruelty of Nature (the absurd interlude "Timmy Twofingers").
The Bottom Line

This disc will have you tapping your feet along to your own mortality - and that alone is worth the price of admission. Flotation Walls have produced a serious contender for 2009's indie album of the year with Nature, and you owe it to yourself to check them out!

Flotation Walls are currently touring in support of Nature and may well be coming to a city near you - you can find their tour dates posted here. They plan to chronicle their tour with videos on their Youtube Channel and updates to their Tumblr Blog. You can also find them on twitter as @flotationwalls.

If you've heard the disc, please leave a comment and let us know what you thought below! - Newsvine


"Music - Flotation Walls' Nature"

Nature, the debut album from Ohio four-piece Flotation Walls is a record that is impressive on first listen, but handsomely rewards repeat plays as well.
The reproductively focused "Sperm and Egg" kicks off the album with a glitchy, harp-accented, operatic open giving way to a deceptively simple-sounding accordion-led waltz. The song then proceeds in phases as a tuba bursts in to accent the fertilization theme while gestation hears the return of the harp with a much more subdued vocal and a bit of synth before dropping out in favor of simple chiming. These musical themes repeat as the songs follows a rise and fall of thickness and complexity. The song is masterfully arranged as rhythms recur and yet no musical phrase exactly repeats, culminating in a chorus of background vocals over ambient drumming, shifting the aesthetic from merry-go-round to an epic climax.

As the album flows into track two the contrast of the first track's sweet melodies with the driving bass drum and deathly sinister guitar picking of second track "Worms" provides quite the splash of water/kick in the ass. The song is no less textured than "Sperm and Egg" but is much more dynamic offering subtle time changes throughout but still maintaining a certain ebb and flow between reediness and depth. The darker tones fit the funereal lyrics perfectly and though the subjects of these first two songs are diametrically opposed (first sparks of life vs. final fade of life) they both end in altar-inspired chants.

"Body" and "Willis the Fireman" provide the best one-two punch on the record with the former opening with an auspicious shot of horns which are quickly joined by booming drums creating a gigantic, grandiose framework. Frontman Carlos Avendano fills the space softly with an almost-whispered delivery and the gaps around him are taken immediately by layers of keys, chimes, and drumrolls. It's perfectly paced despite being so packed and deep building a slow crescendo until, at the peak of tension, the song falls into a chilling, goosebump-inducing chasm of trembling violins as the lead vocal belts the richest delivery heard yet on the album. The latter song opens with about a minute and a half of lullaby vocals over lilting guitars and sparse drums before turning on a dime and establishing itself as the most dynamic song on Nature. Driving drums quickly burst out among echoing harmonies, bubbling together in a roiling mix before exploding into a deep, hook-laden, fast-paced, rollicking tune.

"The Sky Ejaculates" works along similar lines starting with a solitary piano backing lonely lead vocals; the duo staggering wearily yet supporting each other through the dark night of loss. As the setup finishes, the song delivers a floating, beautifully flowing verse before settling into dark piano once again this time serving as a launching pad for a ragged, frustrated shout evocative of thunderstorms and desperate measures.

Throughout the album Flotation Walls displays a transcendental command of harmonic backing vocals and the open of "I've Seen Death and his Tremendous Pink Eyes" exhibits the band at their most sacred. After the back-and-forths of previous songs between sweet and acidic, this track serves as the sound of acceptance, resolution, and moving on. That it reaches such stability while remaining aurally inviting and challenging is quite a feat.

The instrumentations on Nature are so compelling that it's easy to slip into a purely auditory listening mode while glossing over the themes of the record. It's an album that revolves around not only life and death (more specifically the processes involved in living and dying) but also the fragments of one in the other. The hope intrinsic to tragedy and the horror involved with dreaming. It's an album that celebrates the affinity of opposites and the beauty that comes with realizing that life is complex and full even in its simplest instants. Each moment is an occasion for both celebration and mourning for after all, what are the stars without the night, or the shade without the sun? This is an incredibly successful record on all fronts: at once lyrically inspiring and musically inspired.

Flotation Walls is currently touring in support of Nature and will be playing an acoustic set at Pete's Candy Store in Williamsburg on July 5th, and an electrified set at the Lit Lounge in the East Village on July 7th. - New York Cool


Discography

NATURE
June 9th, 2009
(self-released)

Available on iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, Rhapsody, Napster, Digstation, etc.

Photos

Bio

Flotation Walls is a Columbus, Ohio group that combines choral music, psych-folk, IDM, Tropicalia, cabaret, Ye-Ye and orchestral music into a distinct brand of intelligent art-pop. Since its inception in 1996 as an experimental performance group, Flotation Walls has been led by singer/songwriter/instrumentalist Carlos Avendano through many different styles and formats.

In 2004, Avendano began work on NATURE, the group's forthcoming debut full-length release. Over its five years in the making, the album has grown to feature the efforts of over 25 musicians. The songs move through various areas of 20th- and 21st-century music, from the French-waltz-turned-Disney-nightmare "Sperm & Egg," to the cinematic, four-on-the-floor memento mori "Worms." Avendano's recurrent lyrical themes of mating, youth, desperation and family provide a disarming narrative among heavy orchestration and soaring choral arrangements.

In 2007, Avendano began to assemble a group that could support the eventual release of NATURE. Ryan Stolte-Sawa (violin, guitar, piano, synths, vocals), Zak Moses (electric bass, upright bass, vocals) and Luke Brevoort (drums) now join Avendano to comprise Flotation Walls. The group's live show is high in energy as four musicians work to recreate the sound of 25 in their trademark yellow outfits. All the while, they make a deliberate effort to connect with the audience in a good-humored manner that is juxtaposed with the sincerity of their performance.

Following the release of NATURE, Flotation Walls will be quitting their jobs and touring indefinitely in support of the album.

Visit myspace.com/flotationwalls for a full listing of tour dates.