Album Review

The Flowers Of Hell – Odes

• 26th Mar 2013

The press release is accompanied by a (presumably faked) photograph of an orchestra in full space suits on the surface of the moon – as our insignificant planet floats benignly in the background, The Flowers Of Hell are conducted by an identically clad band leader.

My pedantic side urges me to contact Trading Standards or some similar organisation to deal with such flagrant disregard for my presumptuous expectations. I wanted an ethereal experience, I wanted to feel like I was floating in space with these guys, I wanted the music to transport me to far away astral satellites. Instead, what was delivered to me was a covers album of tracks that I’m not entirely aware of in the first instance, so whereas Nouvelle Vague provided a kitschy tongue in cheek take on modern classics, The Flowers Of Hell have mined too deeply for this album to be in any way relevant to me.

Ok, we have Lou Reed’s Walk On The Wild Side and Bob Dylan’s Mr Tambourine Man, but the concept and the execution is really nothing new.

I expected so much more from a 16 strong ensemble that style themselves as ‘orchestral pop’, but Odes leaves me underwhelmed, such quirky promise will likely make some decent dinner party fodder, and that is about it.

Venue: Odes
Support Band: Optical Sounds