Music > Album Reviews

Flatlands and Garage Flowers // Animals - EP

13/03/14

A sound that’s as crisp and fresh as a sharp frost on a winter’s day as the wind blows in, from over the Shropshire hills. This exciting (debut) seven track e.p from Flatlands and Garage Flowers manages to capture you the second the first few chords kick in on lead singer Tony Stanton’s acoustic guitar.

The opening track, ’Put Your Trust In Somebody You Love’, is pure poetry in motion and was inspired by Samuel Johnsons poem ‘One and Twenty’.

It smacks of early Proclaimers (This Is The Story) such is the vibe, air of originality and atmosphere that surrounds it. It’s a song about trust, faith, love, devotion, a coming of age and a yearning for a relationship. Packed full of energy and balls, it feels so very sharp and exciting, like a sound that you are hearing for the very first time.

It’s a totally captivating heart tugging burst of pure musical quality as Stanton’s and Daniel Jan Evans close knit harmonies kick in to gel it altogether to produce a truly genuine sound that’s so pure and simple, with its dripping layers of Evans piano the pulsating heartbeat of the song as it kicks in at the end of the first minute. Wow what an opener?

‘Let Me In’, maintains the pace of the first track, with those seamless Finn and Everly Brothers harmonised vocals synchronising beautifully once again. Yet when you turn the volume setting up to 11, it becomes a powerhouse of a song that could so easily have been written by James Allan (Glasvegas) or the legendary Reid Brothers (The Jesus and Mary Chain). It is quite simply mind blowing.

‘Home Sweet Home’, is a beautiful nostalgic Stephen Morrissey influenced song about a failed relationship, with a happy ending (not that Morrissey himself does happy endings, does he?). It could so easily have been written by Paul Simon during the Simon and Garfunkel years, such is its charm and classic appeal. Stanton has perfectly mastered the very distinctive Travis finger picking guitar playing style. A sound that Simon himself learnt and mastered and actually taught to someone called John Lennon!

The e.p’s title track ‘Animals’. Is if ever there was one a song for vegetarians the world over? Written on the back of a conversation that Evans had with a deeply religious friend of his about abattoirs and how animals are killed and then end up on the dinner plate.

The friend had a surprising twist of response to Evans own thoughts of how cruel these places actually are during an animated and emotional conversation. Expecting an understanding and sympathetic ear, he got neither. As a consequence he went home and wrote this song. It is a magical moment about such an emotive subject. Twisty lyrics, sung with a sneer to the backdrop of a harpsichord drilling away in the background.   

‘Brother’, a deep and personally impassioned song about the loss of a brother and close friend as a result of a drug overdose, “These words our Mother told me, that boy he’s dead not to me”. With Stanton’s Mandolin strumming away in the background to the emotional restrains of such heart wrenching lyrics, this song is as personal and beautiful as George Harrisons ‘Something’ for very differing reasons.

‘Lineland’, shuffles you down a darkened alley as you try to shelter from the mood related miserable weather on a dull grey day, it’s a dreamy tune with a very heavy sixties influenced heartbeat. Stanton is left wondering why a relationship has gone so tragically wrong, “the sun’s gone out as well and I blame you”, “you keep me down” and “wherever you’ve gone it won’t take me long to forget you”. These lyrics are sung by a sneering broken hearted man. 

It’s doom and gloom all the way through and it doesn’t end happily. Morrissey will be pissed off that he didn’t write this song. 

‘You Can’t See The Sun’, is the last song to be written for this debut offering and it sees a slight style change. It was written while Stanton was mundanely working nights in an ink cartridge factory, bored out of his head. He is found searching and yearning for love, feeling a deep rooted loneliness in the process at his failed quest as he sneaks off too pen these words in the staff canteen. Surely he should have been working? Well thankfully he was too busy writing this little beauty.  

It’s time to let some sunshine into your life, open up your ears and let the taste buds flourish for Flatlands and Garage Flowers.

A sound that’s as crisp and fresh as a sharp frost on a winter’s day as the wind blows in, from over the Shropshire hills. This exciting (debut) seven track e.p from Flatlands and Garage Flowers manages to capture you the second the first few chords kick in on lead singer Tony Stanton’s acoustic guitar.

The opening track, ’Put Your Trust In Somebody You Love’, is pure poetry in motion and was inspired by Samuel Johnsons poem ‘One and Twenty’.

It smacks of early Proclaimers (This Is The Story) such is the vibe, air of originality and atmosphere that surrounds it. It’s a song about trust, faith, love, devotion, a coming of age and a yearning for a relationship. Packed full of energy and balls, it feels so very sharp and exciting, like a sound that you are hearing for the very first time.

It’s a totally captivating heart tugging burst of pure musical quality as Stanton’s and Daniel Jan Evans close knit harmonies kick in to gel it altogether to produce a truly genuine sound that’s so pure and simple, with its dripping layers of Evans piano the pulsating heartbeat of the song as it kicks in at the end of the first minute. Wow what an opener?

‘Let Me In’, maintains the pace of the first track, with those seamless Finn and Everly Brothers harmonised vocals synchronising beautifully once again. Yet when you turn the volume setting up to 11, it becomes a powerhouse of a song that could so easily have been written by James Allan (Glasvegas) or the legendary Reid Brothers (The Jesus and Mary Chain). It is quite simply mind blowing.

‘Home Sweet Home’, is a beautiful nostalgic Stephen Morrissey influenced song about a failed relationship, with a happy ending (not that Morrissey himself does happy endings, does he?). It could so easily have been written by Paul Simon during the Simon and Garfunkel years, such is its charm and classic appeal. Stanton has perfectly mastered the very distinctive Travis finger picking guitar playing style. A sound that Simon himself learnt and mastered and actually taught to someone called John Lennon!

The e.p’s title track ‘Animals’. Is if ever there was one a song for vegetarians the world over? Written on the back of a conversation that Evans had with a deeply religious friend of his about abattoirs and how animals are killed and then end up on the dinner plate.

The friend had a surprising twist of response to Evans own thoughts of how cruel these places actually are during an animated and emotional conversation. Expecting an understanding and sympathetic ear, he got neither. As a consequence he went home and wrote this song. It is a magical moment about such an emotive subject. Twisty lyrics, sung with a sneer to the backdrop of a harpsichord drilling away in the background.   

‘Brother’, a deep and personally impassioned song about the loss of a brother and close friend as a result of a drug overdose, “These words our Mother told me, that boy he’s dead not to me”. With Stanton’s Mandolin strumming away in the background to the emotional restrains of such heart wrenching lyrics, this song is as personal and beautiful as George Harrisons ‘Something’ for very differing reasons.

‘Lineland’, shuffles you down a darkened alley as you try to shelter from the mood related miserable weather on a dull grey day, it’s a dreamy tune with a very heavy sixties influenced heartbeat. Stanton is left wondering why a relationship has gone so tragically wrong, “the sun’s gone out as well and I blame you”, “you keep me down” and “wherever you’ve gone it won’t take me long to forget you”. These lyrics are sung by a sneering broken hearted man. 

It’s doom and gloom all the way through and it doesn’t end happily. Morrissey will be pissed off that he didn’t write this song. 

‘You Can’t See The Sun’, is the last song to be written for this debut offering and it sees a slight style change. It was written while Stanton was mundanely working nights in an ink cartridge factory, bored out of his head. He is found searching and yearning for love, feeling a deep rooted loneliness in the process at his failed quest as he sneaks off too pen these words in the staff canteen. Surely he should have been working? Well thankfully he was too busy writing this little beauty.  

It’s time to let some sunshine into your life, open up your ears and let the taste buds flourish for Flatlands and Garage Flowers.