Fowler – i am in love with myself My first introduction to Fowler was after an intense quarter of a year of boiled over emotions that tend to bog down any sense of happiness into a dark despair until that seems to be the norm. This left me without being able to free my mind into something more beautiful. So sitting with my headphones on which cancel out all possible noises from the outside world their first single “Sunflower” entered my brain which lead to an explosion of surreal negativity being lead out of my skull like a cloud absorbing the essence of hate and replacing it with love.
Fowler is a San Francisco based piano and effect driven project by Forrest Nolan of multiple instrument talent, Eli R-A on guitar and Simon Clinton on drums. For i am in love with myself, their first release, all three share vocal responsibilities. Here, they have poured their hearts and souls into creating lush melodies which, while remaining their own, beckon the sounds of Radiohead and Cold War Kids. Each song is like a dance of time signatures that’s more dynamic adding to the emotional state of the three members as they crash collectively out of mandate life to begin a voyage into a forest of sonic textures without ever sounding proggy. I say that with no offense to progressive music in the slightest.
Album opener “I’m Tired (But it’s Fun)” begins with a somber guitar meandering almost like it’s trying to find it’s footing. As the song begins to collect these massive crescendos it suddenly collapses again. Those aspects follow through each track leading me to believe each placement of sound isn’t a randomized mess at all, but the careful placement to keep you guessing. “My Brand New” shows a different almost maniacal feel which shows the purest essence of psychedelia. That beyond the love. Past the flowers. Past all the stereotypes that the true idea of psychedelia is to pray open your skull wash away all false masks and truly find yourself. “La French” is, in my opinion the most endearing track on the album. With its mod polishing its reminiscent of art house movie scenes shot in 1960s Paris in a smoke filled setting. “Oh My I” will keep you on the edge of your seat with its schizophrenic tendencies. It changes seamlessly from dreamy chords to squealing guitars and shrieked vocals under puttering out with the words “with my head on fire”. Closing out the albums comes “Art from the Courthouse” overflowing with jolly overlapped instrumentation and lyrics of deep self reflection.
Hopefully many more releases follow with momentum.
Richard Murray, Pow Magazine
rdmurrayiii at gmail dot com
Fowler Website: https://www.facebook.com/FowlerBand
