A Sanctum of Synergy, Sorrow and Nick Cave-Esque Shadowed Sincerity –

flecks leans fully into the darkness Brighton seems so intent on gifting its singer-songwriters on Only Nuts Rise to the Top, a release shaped with the same pensive poignancy that has coloured the recent balladic works of Nick Cave. There must be something in the water that sombres Brighton-dwelling artists, because flecks channels that emotional weight with a clarity that cuts straight through the neo-classic shadows. Rather than keeping the piece diaphanously lush with shadows and solely piano driven, flecks opts to broadside listeners with swells of synth distortion and echoes of Hammond organ keys that deliver a gospel-esque gasp of salvation before they meet the brass timbres that mainline urgency into the soft unravelling of conflicted emotion.

As the score widens, those textures gather into something close to spiritual collapse, each added element tightening the emotional coil. By the time the outro arrives, there is a sanctum of synergy you could live within for hours, a space that feels carved from catharsis and tension in equal measure. But flecks chooses to close the ceremony of Only Nuts Rise to the Top with a Cohen-esque final reprise of disdain on how nefariousness is almost a prerequisite to success in all avenues of life, on how manipulation so often becomes the only safeguard against being trampled as part of the down-and-out masses. For the virtuous, the artfully affecting release is pure vindication.

As a Brighton-based songwriter with five years of recording behind him and a lifetime spent writing, flecks’ instinct for emotional excavation feels firmly earned. Following his debut album Hibernate to Accumulate, he has been shaping a new collection of ten tracks he proudly calls all killer. Collaborations with Maps and early work with Martin Noble of Sea Power signal the calibre orbiting his talent.

Only Nuts Rise to the Top is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast