Max Bien Kahn
Flowers
***and 1/2 out of *****
The New Orleans based artist Max Bien Kahn's newest offering Flowers mixes acoustic Americana touches with synths and electro beats, combining organic and electric sounds throughout.
Self recording over a period of years, starting back in the pandemic, Kahn and company, Video Age’s Ross Farbe, Howe Pearson and Cameron Snyder, crafted an engaging sonic concoction that works surprisingly well. Opening with the easy flowing folk of the title track, Kahn's soothing vocals relax the listener. "Whatever You Want" is the standout single from the record as the excellent groove bounces along with little squiggly distorted guitar lines creating accents while backing vocals and light synths dance; a winning tune.
What could best be called glam/folk colors the light swaggering of "Saturday Night" as the track shakes and grooves with nice bass work while "Stanger" goes all in with a Phil Spector vibe, lots of backing vocals, swirling synths, chimes and horns delivering one of the more successful efforts.
The bulk of the album finds Kahn and crew mixing that electric and organic to varies degrees. "White Noise" plays with that idea as twangy strings mix with big rock beats and synths while "Ghosts" is slow rolling, lightly buzzing with horns on the fringes and "Planet of Love" starts with weird backward tape before fun babbling flute, big bass and drums. The tunes never fully synch up, but that is part of their charm as they leave wonder in their wake.
Kahn's lyrics can fall into a listing of the mundane such as on the electro pulsing of "The Return" but again this works in a realistic way, grounding the song. Kahn's use of direct scenarios like this is reminiscent of David Byrne as he makes art out of the everyday. The electro warbling soft beat of "Mama" closes the album on a dapple tone.
A unique artistic outing, Flowers finds Max Bien Kahn exploring different ideas with ease and charm while never sitting still or taking the easy route.
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