Spectreview: Fluung – Satellite Weather

The 2019 debut record from Seattle indie band Fluung rips along with the simple pleasures of a off-road drive.

-RED-

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“There are three black clouds above me
And I’m thinking
About lightning”

Fluung are residents of Seattle by way of Cleveland, a fact that compliments their dusty, dirt-caked take on indie rock. 2019 saw the release of their debut album, Satellite Weather, and it’s a perfect encapsulation of that special mixture of workmanlike rock structures and angular indie chording, the kind of mix that once propelled era-defining bands like Built to Spill and Granddaddy. Fluung just happen to have nailed that sound even on their first LP, which chugs along with the rollicking pleasures of an off-road drive.

Like many guitar-forward bands, Fluung put a ton of weight on loud, distorted, amp-blasting riffs and phrases that blend together seamlessly, and they make their presence known across its runtime. Everything you need to know about the band’s music is present in its first two numbers, which are also its best: “Not Just Complaining” pits a classic Marsten vocal against a deliciously chunky guitar melody and a tempo urging to dial farther up, while the Southern-rock “American Money” takes a slower turn to hit the heart strings with an anthemic hook on the chorus. After that, it’s all subtle variations on either of those forms, from the high-octane rock of “Smokercraft” (anchored by a wild riff seemingly pulled straight out of Thurston Moore’s iPhone) to the mellow jam of “Spirit Well” to the slow burn of “Trouble”. It’s might be a quilt of relatively few colors, but it’s a small complaint when that quilt is so warm and fuzzy.

Recommended for galoshes.