Flying Man is the stage name of Dunedin based Irish-born live-looping guitarist and singer/songwriter Alan Ned Gray. Flying Man’s song-writings sit in the electroacoustic realm – playing programmed beats, live looping and layered harmonies. Here he has been joined by Lara Rose from the wonderful Dunedin folk duo Tall Folk. When this started I must admit I was not a fan, as the electro/ambient arrangement is just not what I am interested in, and although Lara has a nice voice I was not overly impressed until we got to the chorus where there was much more acoustic guitar and she had room to lift her vocals. The second verse and chorus has Alan on lead, and he has a nice voice and this certainly did feel much later. He also took the bridge, but here the vocals were too much in the background and the electronics felt too far forward.
The third verse saw them duetting, and by now I was convinced the major issue with this song is one of personal taste. It is a nice song, with good vocals, but due to my own likes and dislikes I would have much preferred it if this had been accompanied by an acoustic guitar and little else. Not for me, but also not something which should just be dismissed out of hand and fans of this style should certainly investigate.
About the author Kev Rowland
From 1990 – 2006 I ran Feedback fanzine in the UK, writing about bands that were rarely covered in the mainstream press, many of whom were in the underground scene. I built close ties with many British Progressive groups in particular, including writing the newsletter for Freewill, getting gigs for Credo and writing the introduction to Galahad’s OCMDII compilation. I reviewed literally thousands of cassettes and then CDs from bands from throughout the world, and was lucky enough to interview many of them. During this period I also contributed to the French progzine Acid Dragon, wrote for the music newspaper Rock ‘n’ Reel and was also involved with the Ghostland website. In 2006 I moved to NZ, and stopped running Feedback (which was then renamed Amplified after I left, at my request) having produced over 80 editions with more than 11,000 pages of print and heaven knows how many reviews
More by Kev Rowland
Gig Review: Crushfest @ The Tuning Fork, Auckland – 07/07/2023
Single Review: Love and War
Single Review: All This Time
Single Review: Sons of Savages
Gig Review: Stray Dogs @ AUX, Auckland – 26/05/2023
Gig Review: Turkey The Bird @ The Ministry of Folk, Auckland – 27/05/2023
Single Review: Beautiful Creature
Gig Review: Emily Rice @ Your Local Coffee Roasters, Pukekohe – 24/05/2023
EP Review: Bridge City Crew
Single Review: Your Heart of Gold
Single Review: The Strangest Dream
Single Review: No Funeral Blues
