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Sound Advice: Flash Lightnin’ by Flash Lightnin’
Every Tuesday, Torontoist scours record store shelves in search of the city’s most notable new releases and brings you the best—or sometimes just the biggest—of what we’ve heard in Sound Advice.
After spending the past couple years beguiling local audiences with their hellraising Dakota Tavern residency gigs, Flash Lightnin’ have finally released a self-titled full-length (out now on Pheromone Recordings) so super-hip and badass that it warrants them dropping the “g” from the end of their moniker.
The meat ‘n’ potatoes boogie rock trio truck out the gates with the title track, a high voltage, metal-tinged banger laying a patch of feral fuzz-pedal riffs and apoplectic drum fills over which frontman Darren Glover howls like the bastard lovechild of Robert Plant and Brian Johnson. From there, things get a tad (okay, a lot) more subdued, but remain every bit as infectious; “No Sympathy” channels the Stones’ toe-tapping disco shuffle, while “You Got A Mouth” wades into feel-good indie-pop territory, bolstered by horn-laden choruses courtesy of producer Jimmy Shaw (of Metric fame).
While noticeably glossier and more melodic than their 2008 Destello EP, this disc still has its share of muscular pelvic thruster: “Rock n’ Roll” is full of AC/DC-esque FM radio riffage, while “Life The Hood” is all slide guitars and ZZ Top–like blooze rawk swagger. It’s retro-fetishism at its finest and most devout, sans any traces of kitsch or tongues in cheeks—think less The Darkness and more Jack White (incidentally, “Cavalry” sounds like a dead ringer for the White Stripes’ “Icky Thump”).
If you’re getting the impression that Flash Lightnin’ sounds like an assortment of tunes you’ve already heard in your dad’s El Camino, you’re most likely correct. Hey, just think of it like a Whopper combo; you know exactly what you’re gonna get, but it hits the right spot each and every time.
Cut a rug with Flash Lightnin’ during their CD release show at the Horseshoe on August 12.