Groovy Shirt Club ‘Electric Flowers’
Electric Flowers draws you in with intoxicating vibes and rich soundscapes. Deep and meaningful lyrics that feel like a gateway into our lives. Groovy Shirt Club seems to get all your happy feelings and knotty thoughts and the songs on Electric Flowers are soundtracks to accompany each down and glorious moments. Between the jazzy hums and full, sunset colors, Electric Flowers take you to such a special place, with nostalgia, memory and retro love. Intoxicating, introspective and kind of therapeutic.
“A Walk in the Park” is a memorable song. Smooth but vibrant, modern but subtle. It has a little jazzy flair with a vocal and a brass in conversation. Then there’s the occasionally soulful vocal harmonies that shine in between moments. Just like a soundtrack from a movie, it’s sultry and danceable, romantic and optimistic. As a song about love, it feels just like love.
In tender piano, the heartfelt vocals in “Midnight Blue” draws you in. It paints a vivid scene of a character taking a contemplative walk in the rain, under the moonlight. There’s the immediacy of imagery, of seeing these characters going through their separate lives through music. It makes a really powerful visual presence, making these scenes almost palpable with moods and tastes, characters in motion.
“Midnight Blues” marks an important moment in Electric Flowers. From there, the album seems to spiral deeper and deeper into the world of motion picture. Like soundtracks in a movie, “Everything Like New” and “Can You Hear Me” each store a mood—a moment that’d last forever, preserved in songs.
“Everything Like New” has the strong desire of nostalgia and the touch of change to it. The deeply touching song delves into a time of change, looking at the new life, looking back at the old life. Soft vocals and deep piano in echoes. While bluesy notes and slight jazzy percussion adds a hint of somber. “Can You Hear Me” signals a life-changing climax. It’s sophisticated, drastic and even chaotic. Fate and choice meets at a crossroad. Uncertainty and heaviness woven into the sounds. And “Every Time You Walk Away” brings the grand jazzy embrace we’ve all been waiting for. With a walking bass and a slow but graceful groove. Butterfly piano. Soothing deep voice.
There’s so much to sink in from Electric Flowers. Groovy Shirt Club really brings quite a meaningful experience through their songs. Everyone can find a piece of themselves, a reflection of a moment in their lives in the album. And to have that perspective is priceless.
Read our interview with the band and learn more about the “movie” behind Electric Flowers.
Punk Head: Absolutely love the authenticity and storytelling in Electric Flowers. Tell us more about this album. How did everything come together?
Groovy Shirt Club: I've always written songs with a reflective and philosophical view on life. Contemplating relationships, love and life itself. The stories come from actual experiences and the authenticity shines through because the arrangements, performances and recordings are all done in live takes by musicians who are great friends and share the same mindset. Some of the songs began as tracks for a film soundtrack but the movie ran into problems and was never completed. I forged ahead regardless as I was really enjoying the writing process and collaborating with old mates to get the tracks down. The sound of the group then just emerged naturally as everyone threw the best of themselves into it without fear or criticism or anyone damping down their creative flair in an attempt to fit the songs into a commercial box. In production terms, there was a deliberate conscious decision to not use any samples, electronics, midi files, loops, or software trickery. Every single note is played by the band. And so as the production process went through the mixing and mastering by the wonderful Francis Gorini at London Mastering Studio, he maintained that creative flow and allowed the tracks to breathe and sound natural. So what we have as a result is us and absolutely nothing else.
PH: Which song do you like the best and why?
Groovy Shirt Club: This is difficult. I love all of them. But I would say that, wouldn't I? But if I had to pick one, I would go for “A Walk in the Park.” I was going through a bit of a Burt Bacharach phase and I wanted to create a vibe and feel for a song in homage to him. I immersed myself in all things Bacharach from his 60's period, which for me was his purple patch. What I came up with I hope does him justice without being a pastiche and also sounds contemporary and fresh. John's bass line and Neil's drumming drive the song with a lovely, lilting laid back power. Bruce's keys add an understated finesse and the subtle but sumptuous harmonies from Ola round the song off beautifully. The cherry on the cake was getting Chris Storr on board to play trumpet. Once he confirmed he was available, all I said was give it the full Herb Alpert and left him to it. The song came together perfectly, almost like IT was deciding what we all played to make it work. With all the darkness around us these days, I love that this song has such a light, airy, innocent fun about it, reminiscent of those 60's classics.
PH: Can you tell us more about Groovy Shirt Club?
Groovy Shirt Club: We've all been around too much to worry about doing anything other than just being ourselves. We are serious about what we do but don't take ourselves too seriously. There's a raw honesty with no egos. Each of us takes things constructively and will adapt their contribution for the betterment of the whole. No one person is more important then the rest. It's our joint effort, in sympathy with each other which makes Groovy Shirt Club work.
PH: Who are your biggest inspirations?
Groovy Shirt Club: Between us our influences and musicians who inspire us is enormously broad and I think you can hear that in the songs. It ranges from Billy Joel to Beethoven, The Beatles to Buddy Rich. Aretha through 50's rock n roll all the way to Zeppelin.
PH: What is the one thing that you’d like your fans to know about you?
Groovy Shirt Club: We are genuine people with a great sense of humour, integrity, a real love of music and enjoy creating something that we hope resonates with people.
