Anomie Belle - Flux

Anomie Belle

Flux
Diving Bell Recording Co.; 2016

3.8 out of 5

​By Matt Jensen

Anomie Belle is an artist who released an album entitled Flux that is one of the fews albums that feels every bit relevant to 2016. I say this mostly in terms to production. The beats, splices, synths and everything else feels contemporary and I say that in a good way. Let's face facts, production has jumped leaps and bounds in the last fifteen years. You can do so much in the digital domain these days so why not stretch it to its limits. For me the sounds of Flux run somewhere between FKA Twigs and Bjork. Yeah so you can say I was impressed.

One of the highlights and my personal favorite track was “Saturday Gives.” l couldn’t get enough of the warm orchestral strings against the intricate production which provided an emotional resonant vibe. The juxtaposition hits the bullseye. Her vocals are crisp, subdued but interestingly enough quite sparse. This is a trend I noticed on the album (the hooks aren’t necessarily glaring). Belle seems to favor a focus on the instrumentation rather than the hook.

​Some songs are a little more straightforward and destined for a late night lounge such as “Right Way” or “As We Are.” One song that does have a hook that stuck out to me was “Lovers.” There is no denying that vocal melody will get stuck in your head.

“As Summer Bleeds Daylight” is an short yet effective instrumental track while “Tumult” is a slower moving song but has so many things happening my mind didn’t know what to listen to. 

Flux is an album you can easily make a case for being overproduced. If you strip back the clicks, vocal effects etc. what would be left of these songs? Is it possible for a traditional band of bass, guitar and drums to cover these songs and find the emotional center? And does it matter? These are important questions to ask in this day and age for Belle and like minded artists. 

I have to admit I wanted to hear Belle’s natural vocals a bit more rather than the production. That being said the production is so ahead of the curve of most artists it can serve them as an example of how advanced the art has become. If you want to hear a contemporary sounding artist then look no further than Anomie Belle.

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