Flume - Hi This is Flume

March 20, 2019 - Future Classic

That feeling you get in the middle of a set where you’re not sure where the music—the atmosphere, is going to go next, but your gut does and so you get that sense of wonder at the same time as a sense of knowing satisfaction. That’s what Harley Streten has cultivated, distilled, and bottled with his latest project, Hi, This is Flume. Honestly if Harley were to walk into a club and simply press play on this (and the accompanying visualizer) I would have a very content next 42 minutes. I’m not glued to the idea of placing Hi, This is Flume in the category of projects that need to be listened to in one sitting, but I’m also having trouble listening to individual tracks out of context. That being said, there are a few exceptions to that, notably the vocal collaborations Harley has done with the likes of JPEGMAFIA, slowthai, and SOPHIE. These tracks occupy the front end of the project, though they don’t pack all the meat into one side, like an overstuffed lopsided sausage. No, this sausage is perfectly balanced, well spiced, and cooked correctly. The back half occupies the space that Harley has been exploring for most of his artistic career; organic, raw synth sequencing, liberal use of sampled material, and a peppering of field-recorded noise bits, all put through a rough yet sophisticated blender and laid bare for listeners to digest how they please. The project is by no means background music, but it works on multiple listening levels and locations.

Special recognition to the track ‘Wormhole,’ both for audio and the visualizer. The song ticks all the Flume boxes with its static train-track percussive ticks laying groundwork for distortion coated drums, synths, and pleasant melodic chords to roam, and the shots of Harley pouring LaCroix all over his body, car, etc. are great. Love that stuff. 🍍