Flash Fiktion – Hoxton Bar and Kitchen, London 22/02/11

If first impressions are everything then I’m sorry to say Flash Fiktion wouldn’t have made it on to my Christmas card list. When the singer Matt saunters on stage in a reindeer hoody, cut off leather gloves and a blank expression, it pretty much sets the tone for the evening, which is a baffling cacophony of sounds and conceits displayed against a bit of a dull background.

After hearing only good things about the South London-based trio, I make my way to Hoxton Bar and Kitchen, turn out my toes and wait to be swept away by this dream pop phenomenon – yet the experience is far from what I expect.

Never before have I experienced a band with such a misleading online presence – parading around on YouTube with their particular brand of digitally enhanced harmonic electro-pop while the reality is far from it.

In lieu of masked vocals, tropical backing tracks and sexy interludes, we get a rough-and-ready guitar-driven pop group, devoid of the heat and sophistication that I had previously gleaned from their music. Just when did the synthy popsters got replaced by these placid guitar wielding lads and why I didn’t get the memo?

Misleading or not, there is a lot going on, and it’s pretty much all good – individually. They have great guitar work, timely percussion, and the vocals are passable; but put them together and something doesn’t quite work. Their music appears a patchwork of influences, from Bow Wow Wow, through to Muse and Editors – herein lies the problem. Flash Fiktion have picked out all of their favourite things, mixed it altogether and out comes a gluttonous concoction of instruments, genres and melodies. It’s just a little bit too busy for me.

While writing this piece, I read an interview where the band were asked what kind of music they made. The reply? “An eclectic mix of everything we love”. Ahh, now we get to the root of it. They seem to be aspirational lads who try to combine a little bit of everything, which is admirable but incredibly hard to pull off.

Perhaps when they stop trying to be everything, they might just manage to be something.