Flume - Hi This Is Flume

2016's Skin saw Flume on the cusp of commercial breakthrough; it spawned the slow-burning 'Never Be Like You' featuring Kai and managed to hit the top of the Australian charts, and #20 on the Billboard Hot 100. 'Say It' with Tove Lo also enjoyed some chart success. It would thus follow, then, that the album was met with lukewarm praise and a confused shrug at all of its collaborations with the likes of AlunaGeorge, Beck and Vince Staples. It won a Grammy but consigned Flume to the increasing list of indie darlings on the verge of a total shun.
That's how music criticism works in my head anyway; a ceaselessly tiresome charade of absorbing flavours of the week and dropping anything from five years ago like broken toys. There seems to be a concerted effort to counter that, though - speaking to his own Reddit in an AMA he says that, in regards to going down a "more experimental route"

I felt like i needed to, I was doing interview after interview, it stopped being fun. This is me going back to my roots

Reeling in the likes of SOPHIE and slowthai should prove for some fascinating results, then. 

(It does.)

'High Beams' features the latter along with Australian producer HWLS, and is an immediate highlight, mixing harsh metallic scrapes with this saccharine Orient-inspired melody and allowing British up-and-comer slowthai to let loose with a dollop of existentialism ("believing everyone except for me/ all I need is TLC, block it out with THC"). It follows 'Ecdysis' (and a corny intro), an exceptionally strong shedding of skin in line with its title definition, that just keeps you on your toes expecting it to dip one way and then introducing a new component, new percussion technique, or new melodic shift. It's a fine taste of what's to come, and 'Jewel' just propels that mission skyward. A slow-burning, chilled track, that plays with delayed gratification and almost has a tinge of chillwave about it.

That the title is literally 'Dreamtime' should pretty much tell you everything you need to know about the track that follows the impossibly-long title interlude; a mellow, delicate builder that paves the way for his and Eprom's remix of SOPHIE's excellent 'Is It Cold in the Water?' Here, the voice of Mozart's Sister (who featured on the original on last year's Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides) is pitched slightly higher and a heavenly accompaniment to the Australians' reworking. This uncanny knack for allowing guest's talents to flourish continues on my personal favourite: 'How to Build a Relationship' features Baltimore rapper JPEGMAFIA, and the sudden shift in backdrop, around the time the second verse drops with a drumbeat, is incredible, and ends with one of the most satisfying shouts of "AW FUCK" you'll ever hear. SOPHIE returns along with long-time collaborator Kučka (from Skin's Smoke & Retribution and Numb & Getting Colder, amongst many others) on 'Voices', where the latter's distinctive voice is allowed to burrow its way into your head and lull you into a false sense of security.

False in the sense that the only unsettling and unpleasant moment for me follows on 'MUD', where the crescendo is this cacophony of distorted effects that... might grow on me, but also might not. The closing tracks are a lot less abrasive, though; 'Upgrade' and '71m3' set the tone nicely and allow for this psychedelic dream on 'Vitality' to play out well. 'Daze, 22.00' too, has these chords throughout that sit somewhere between serene car advert, and science-fiction nightmare sequence. Flume stated in the aforementioned AMA that his favourite track from this mixtape was 'Amber' and it's certainly full of some of the most baffling sounds and, paired with this slow-stomping rhythm, there's just an other-worldliness to it. Someone on YouTube called it a "symphony of elephants" and that's pretty fair.

Surviving only the briefest of middle-stage wobbles, Hi This Is Flume is an excellent smörgåsbord of Flume's talents and ability to pull off impossible sequences and shifts you wouldn't have expected. If there are returns to a more commercial sound - and they're as good as Skin - this promise of keeping up with the more experimental stuff is sure to appease the snootiest of arseholes. But in terms of piecing together something engaging from start to finish, and full of wow moments, if this really is Flume then there's something fantastic to put on his résumé here.

Rating: 8.5/10
Highlights: High Beams, How to Build a Relationship, Amber, Ecdysis, Jewel
Avoid: MUD

Artwork Watch: Not convinced anyone would ever choose this decal for their 90s Nissan
For fans of: loud wake-ups, rich production, complete curveballs

Coming next: Solange