FLUXIOUS - Why So Serious?
After more than half a century of rock music, it is admittedly hard to come up with something that hasn’t been done before. Even the most creative among artists nowadays have to be content with mixing known ingredients into something that no one else has thought of before them. In the case of Fluxious from Geneva in Switzerland, this could be described as R’n’B metal.
The album title shows instantly that the band members are not taking themselves overly serious, which doesn’t mean that they don’t know their trade. Straight from the opener Point Of View, the listener is immersed into a sonic universe unparalleled by anything before. The music is definitely grounded in earthy hard rock structures, but there is also an undeniable funkiness delivered by the rhythm section. Most of all though, it’s Joana Desfosses’ incredible vocals that set this band apart from the competition. Trained for years in a music academy, she sounds much better than all the wannabe opera singers. Her vocal range sounds quite natural, yet she has enough talent to come up with wondrous melodies. Not unlike the singing style is closer to pop or R’n’B than hard rock or metal, but it’s this contrast with the music that makes Why So Serious? such a unique listening experience.
After having gone into so much detail about her incredible performance, I need to point out that the musicians certainly don’t stand back. The funky hard rock played by the guys is quite sublime and light years away from current hypes. Reminding at times of Frank Zappa, Van Halen and Living Colour, except for the extraordinary female vocals, Fluxious are not unlike some crossover bands that tried to reinvigorate rock music in the late Eighties. Twenty years after this first attempt, the French Swiss quartet proves that it is never too late to try to liberate rock music from its own stylistic constraints. Why So Serious? is a great first album by this incredibly promising band.