Full Flower Moon Band are in bloom on Megaflower
Full Flower Moon Band are back with their third full length release in Megaflower, further exploring their riff-driven dive bar rock n’ roll while subverting expectations and deviating into a land of intimacy, humour and reality. Give it a listen here.
“l could have easily not challenged myself, but I made a point of going through a real metamorphosis with every song. For the first time, I didn’t have a grand concept going into making an album - I just had a point to prove”
Megaflower delivers in more than most breakthrough follow ups do. A journey featuring observations on masculinity, love, surrealism and life. Titling the album Megaflower is no accident - this record is a statement of the band’s core themes.
Meanjin/Brisbane rock band Full Flower Moon Band is the brainchild of Kate “Babyshakes” Dillon. Co-producing the record with award-winner Tony Buchen of Smashing Pumpkins and Troye Sivan fame, Dillon’s vision is realised in an ever changing soundscape grounded by a rock-solid band.
Guitarists Caleb Widener and Christian Driscoll, along with bassist Marli Smales and drummer Luke Hanson sit right in the space between organised chaos and natural creativity in a sound that blends tight grooves with spacious tones. Drum sounds are big, guitars are reminiscent of the wild west, and bass is often fuzzed out - but the sound is always punchy and forces you to nod your head.
Dillon flexes her range by jumping between distorted spoken style on single Devil and intimate Weyes Blood esque on closer Kiss Him Goodbye, taking care to guide the listener through the sonic and emotional spectrum of the world of Megaflower
Photo by Joel McDonald
The album opens with Super Like Me, a reflection on the dating app fatigue many young people deal with - and the hilarity of paying for a subscription for it. Taking full advantage of FFMB’s signature vocal and guitar harmony, it’s unmistakeably on brand while elevating the band and Dillon’s songwriting to a new level.
Illegal Things follows up as a softer entry to the band’s canon. Musing on who deserves to go to heaven - and what exactly is waiting for those who make it. “Like good drugs” Dillon hopes, but who’s to know.
Devil takes us back to the core of the band’s sound with a borderline rap/sung delivery describing the habits and hinderances we fall back on, while Baby takes us to a sweet and soft place rarely heard from Full Flower Moon Band. This song is the pop single that will be charting later this year, mark my words.
Riffs-a-plenty are the core of West Side’s charm, with Dillon’s crazed yodelling vocals building a schizophrenic and strange atmosphere of rock swagger, and Enemy describes the way something can change from positive to negative and back with almost nothing.
The theme of masculinity returns on fantastic songs Man Hands and Alpha near the tail end of the album. Man Hands has possibly the best chorus on the album sounding like Black Sabbath’s War Pigs with a country twist, and Alpha cracks wise on the ridiculousness of male behaviour derived from insecurity.
Come And Be invites us back to a place of intimacy as the penultimate track - asking the listener to fully embrace their feelings and quit dancing around the conversation, while closing track Kiss Him Goodbye feels like the credits to a long and powerful story. The only piano led song on the album, it earns it’s place as the epic ballad of the project.
Babyshakes Dillon and the whole Full Flower Moon Band have beat the sophomore curse with Megaflower, and the record is sure to go down as one of the best rock releases this year.
Make sure to give the album a listen here, and catch them on the road as they embark on their national Megaflower tour here.