Review: Flight Mode - Torshov '05 (EP)

Label: Sound as Language

Nostalgia is something bittersweet. It won't move you forward and maybe just maybe if you hold on to it too tight, it will downsize your view of the world and let you come off as a narrow-minded old guy. Cause, like everyone and his brothers says: Live in the moment. And always look into the future. Yeah, same old, same old! Nostalgia still is pretty helpful sometimes. It's something you always have, something you can rely on, even if everything in your life seems to go south. You can cling onto it and wring it out, in search of joy and heartwarming feelings. And you know what? Nostalgia goes hand in hand with melancholy and melancholy is best served alongside beautiful music. Enter Midwest-Emo. Enter FLIGHT MODE. 

"Nostalgia" is a key word for their new record. "Torshov '05" is their second concept EP about a phase in the lead singer's life. Sjur Lyseid was 24 in 2005 and lived in Torshov, a borough in Oslo. It's a beautiful, and fresh concept for an EP and definitely worth diving into if you're into grown-up Emo-stuff. The big strength of the three-piece is its sincerity. This doesn't feel contrived nor constructed or just "for the sake of it". They sound nostalgic but they have the right to be nostalgic about this kind of style. They're old enough and certainly witnessed the heydays of the genre. 

The three-piece also delivers when it comes to the songwriting. While being coherent in their style, all of the four songs take a different route. Be it more up-beat like in "Blinks" or MINERAL-esque, and sensitive like in the gorgeous "Togetherness". The closer "Do you remember" is another highlight, especially the dramatic build-up. Keith Latinen (EMPIRE! EMPIRE!, MT. ORIANDER, etc.) helps on the vocal front and gets a small, and unpretentious part in the final stretch of the song. But I guess that's the way Keith and the guys from FLIGHT MODE are. It's a touching song whatsoever and the closing words are more than fitting: "I used to know how a memory slips / Now I just can't remember it".

Sound-wise FLIGHT MODE are definitley close to old Sweden-acts like LEIAH and LAST DAYS OF APRIL, other references seem evident with an attitude like that: ELLIOTT, THE APPLESEED CAST, MINERAL. If you're into any of these bands, you'll warm up pretty fast with "Torshov '05".

I'm really enjoying these four songs and get the feeling that there are not many bands nowadays doing it (the nostalgic Midwest-Emo-thing of the 90s) much better than FLIGHT MODE. I'm looking forward to further dive into their past. Nostalgia is... beautiful. Period.

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