Flamingo Crash Triangle Island by: Liam Tracey Wed:14-May-08 Label: Sidekick Year: 2008 WB rating 80 out of 100

Thank goodness local bands are still brave enough to release records that are so littered with musical twists. Triangle Island has to be one of the most outlandish local releases this year, Flamingo Crash taking their years of live experience and whacky antics and compiling 10 grin-bearing moments. The based-in-several-cities four piece revel in energy and imagination and there isn’t a moment on this – the band’s first long player – that falters in providing either.

If you’ve ever seen them live, then you already know how the foursome delights in playful looks and sounds. Flamboyant frontman Isaac Emmanuel parades about in bright shirts with his Mighty Boosh-esque hairdo, as he performs his vocal acrobatics while Cate Porter and Matt Harrison bound about on either side. The live performance is perhaps a rather large influence in reviewing Triangle Island, as it’s almost as though all the energy exerted on stage is encapsulated in a compact disc.

So what does such an outlandish band sing about? The lyrics throughout Triangle Island are warped enough to leave most scratching their heads, but at the same time there are loads of extremely memorable lines. Perhaps appropriate for the year of its release, ‘Beijing Holiday’ provides an easy sing-along chorus or two, while the lyrics hidden behind the acronym title ‘S.T.F.U.’ might well become the next big comeback.

‘Shoot The Lights Out’ is the track that gets the dance party started with the request to “Shoot the lights out, and dance.” From there on, it’s one merry jaunt after another. The fast-slow-fast transitions of ‘The Fire Song’ are reminiscent of Architecture in Helsinki’s latest work, and the cheekily titled and worded ‘S.T.F.U.’ has similar, random experimentations and electronics to Regurgitator. The majority of the experience, though, relies on the basic assumption that fun tunes will equal a happy audience, and there’s no decline in energy to be found, resulting in a record that challenges the enthusiasm of bands like The Grates.

If you enjoy quirkily imaginative music then Triangle Island will be right up your alley. On top of the creative elements though, there is some genuine skill in the recording itself. The clarity of Triangle Island immediately strikes out as sublime stuff. Calling upon top Brisbane producer Lachlan Goold aka Magoo (Midnight Oil, Regurgitator, Gerling) and wasting little with their mastering by employing Steve Fallone (The Stokes, Sonic Youth, TV on the Radio), the band have crafted a record with quality far beyond many debuts.

The mixture of heavy touring before recording and the employment of top notch behind-the-scenes folk will hopefully pay off for the boys and girl behind this great local act. Flamingo Crash are a band to keep an eye on and with their rate of touring it shouldn’t be too difficult to keep both eyes on them.