Flamedown were formed in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2009. Charlie Giardina was previously in a band called Hardway and has worked with Eric Martin & Bruce Kulick This is their debut EP. The band, who are currently working on their first album, describe their music as a mixture of Westcoast & AOR.
First a little story. My wife & I have many things in common. Musical taste isn't one of them. However, when it comes to deciding what music to playing the car when were are on a family outing & we aren't letting the kids take over the car stereo, LA Cowboy's Endless Summer is one album that we often play. A couple of days after this EP dropped in my letterbox, we were heading out in the car and my wife said why didn't we put on that CD you were listening to the other night. Yip, she was talking about Flamedown. So Flamedown made an impression whereas the majority of music of music I listen to is met with indifference at best and in good company with what is regarded as a Westcoast classic.
"No One" is a good AOR meets Westcoast opener. This is followed by the more laid back "Someday I". "Rivers Running Deep" has an AOR vibe to it kinda like Journey meets Toto. It was whilst listening to "Voices" that it clicked with me that Mark Spiro was the name of the artist that these guys reminded me of. An interesting fact I discovered when getting a bit of background on Flamedown is that it turns out that Charlie worked with Mark back in the Hardway days.
This first exposure to Flamedown made a positive impression on me and that is a good achievement because Westcoast is at the occasional end of my listening spectrum with acts often labelled as 'pleasant' rather than essential.
Rating: 4 stars
