THE HOUSE FLIES - Glimmer EP
- Freddie McKee
- Feb 3, 2023
- 2 min read
THE HOUSE FLIES
Glimmer EP
Illinois, United States
The House Flies are hitting hard with their latest EP Release, ‘Glimmer.’ A daunting and perilous emotional foray into alternative rock. Its sound is mesmerising. Guitars hide in the shallows, bursting out with dark colours when the melody comes close. They are heavy and warm, brooding in dusters in the sun. The percussion is powerful and expansive. It echoes throughout the EP with delays and filters that create the sense of 4 drummers, all working to create a sensitive yet derelict landscape. It's gothic, romantic and electric. Especially when the synth sections of the instrumental come into play, droning in the back and adding spadefuls of tense atmosphere. When the vocals unbury themselves from the dystopian rubble, they are fragile, melodic and emotive. They carry such passion on each song but don’t overstay their welcome. They too are part of the grand picture that The House Flies paint with ‘Glimmer.’
‘Hounds’ has the honour of introducing us to the sounds and textures that we will be at the mercy of on the EP. Opening with electric scales that pad out the chords, followed by a bass that is metallic and low, calling your attention and locking you into the post-rock groove. When the percussion finds its way out of the murky gloom and the vocals appear, the sound is whole and it is magnificent. The House Flies weave solemn stories through heavy instrumentals paired with vocals that embody grace and poise. The contrast is staggering and it works to keep things interesting. ‘Sequin’ brings forth more of the rock stylings of the band and moves ‘Glimmer’ away from the electric. It is still there, the Neo-synth influence, but it is sequestered, replaced with a droning electric guitar that riles the song up and lets it down easy. The exchanges from verse to chorus are vivid and the song breathes an air of indifference, its confident, loud and set in its melancholy.
‘Blue’ and ‘Apple’ sit in similar camps, building upon The House Flies’ sound layer by layer. Adding suppressed percussion here, louder vocals there, faster pacing and slower sections; it's as varied as it needs to be and nothing more. The real hook is the texture and the emotion on the EP. ‘Glimmer’ takes us somewhere dark, where the small and insubstantial are everything. The songs are named after simple things that we take for granted and perhaps pass by day to day. ‘Glimmer’ is that moment you stop and stare and think about the entire world revolving around that apple, its journey from wherever it came from to the table in front of you. When you take it all into consideration it’s suffocating, isolating and confounding — in the most enlightening of ways. The House Flies’ ‘Glimmer’ looks through a warped looking-glass at the ordinary and produces a dark sound that is preternaturally distinct and hypnotic.
