I can't for the life of me recall how I landed on Fleshwater, who released this excellent three-song demo back in February. I may have randomly stumbled across something on Instagram that inspired me to look them up on Bandcamp, who knows? I think there are lineup connections to Vein, but I didn't know that at the time, and the approach is completely different here, tackling a dual vocal "grungegaze" type of style. There are warm washes of hazy, fuzzed-out effects and layering aplenty, but the songwriting carries much more variety and energy than a lot of this stuff tends to explore. In fact, you could even apply the ridiculous-yet-accurate descriptor of "grunge-gazing alternative post-metal emo-rock" that I first threw at Cruelty of the Heavens earlier this year.
The dual vocal factor is more prevalent in the other tracks, but opener "Linda Claire" is my personal favorite.
Grab the demo for $1 at Bandcamp, or stream away through Spotify. Hopefully this mysterious trio will keep things movin' with some new material soon...?
