One older - not quite typical – Květy´s album began with the words: "The quietest band in the world so as not to disturb the neighbours." The newest album, called a bit mysteriously Květy Květy (Flowers Flowers) begins with this text: “We are heading into the dark at the highest speed.” Can one deduce anything from the fact that the band around Martin E. Kyšperský in the slowest year, at the time of the lockdown, came up with the fastest and perhaps the most energetic album in their career? Or is it more important that, despite all the pressure that emanates from Květy Květy (Flowers Flowers) as a collective work, it is actually a very solitary and intimate record?
"Albums used to be about love, but this is the most," says Kyšperský, who is again the sole author of the songs. And indeed it is. The composer and singer, who spent most of the year in isolation, without a band, without a team of collaborators, sings: "If you were getting married barefoot / with fine feet covered with grass / I’d want to be there, in the shade…" "It would be great having children with someone like you…" Or - which is perhaps the most original love song of the decade: "While the siren is being tested / So I'm suffocating with love / Like when I swallow polystyrene / and stuff my mouth with the biggest pieces." Besides these clear emotions, the album also contains other dialogues with a person of the opposite sex, partly encrypted, partly shrouded in a fog of unconsciousness - simply snippets of perhaps real moments that M.E.K experienced at some points in the past. Some of them are spooky ("We throw knives at each other / the microwave heats the food, there will be a funeral tomorrow"), but there is no need to decipher them. It is extremely difficult to write a really strong text "about relationships", everything has already been said and even parodies of love - dove are no longer interesting today. Kyšperský succeeded and his love songs are as strong as those about aging and maturing or about a school football match.
But back to the dense sound of the album. This is, of course, due to another change in the band's line-up from the last two albums (released in one year) Komik do půl osmé (Being a Comedian by half past seven) and Spí vánoční pták (Sleeping Christmas Bird). Meanwhile, the band - still three members, albeit with guests - experimented on two genres of different YM project albums: on Martin Kyšperský's country record Lorenzovi hoši (Lorenz’s Boys) and on the electronic solo project by Aleš Pilgr Japonec (Japanese). The solo album Solárium (Solarium) was also released by Ondřej Kyas. Martin produced two excellent albums by Jan Fic, wrote lyrics for Lenka Dusilová, recorded an instrumental record with the project Dula, collaborated with Jakub Čermák on the rap record Lament… And meanwhile Aleš left his long-term drummer position and switched to double bass, while Květy found a new drummer almost about a generation younger, Jakub Kočička. Ondřej Kyas continues to play the keyboards and synthesizers are just as important on the novelty as on Komik (Comedian). But he also plays the guitar more and it is the interplay of two guitars with the keyboards that is characteristic of the new sound of Květy. An insanely fast ride through the album, presented by the song Do tmy (Into the Darkness), leads us from distinctly electronic passages (Turné v Polsku – Tour in Poland), through a combination of electronics with a distinctive live bass line (Koňýku (Horsee)) or electro-rock (Kinedryl) to very vigorous rock passages (end of the song Voskovec v Americe (Voskovec in America)).
Martin Kyšperský also says about the new songs: "I write letters in those songs mainly to myself, so as not to forget what I have done in the last two decades, whom I have loved and with whom it has not worked." When listening, you may feel that you have already heard something from the album already, just a little differently. Some of the rhythmic patterns or vocal direction in the song Okolí špitálu (Surrounding the Hospital) really evoke something of the band's past. The style of the band is changing, but of course it is based on certain foundations and it is good that Květy is still Květy, despite being more dense and changing the themes of the songs. There are also similarities in the lyrics: on the one hand structural ("If you we getting married naked…" at the beginning of the song Koňýku (Horsee) is rhythmically reminiscent of "If your eyes did not shine…" from the old hit Opustit Bystroušku (Leave Bystrouška)), one directly thematic ("The King Dies, the King of Samba Dies / from the Mainland of Childhood" in the song Nekonečný (Infinite) and the song Umírá trpaslíků král (The King of the Dwarfs Dies) from Kyšperký’s solo album Svetr (Sweater)). These similarities are almost certainly unintended, but they beautifully illustrate the author's effort to look back at the album. Thus, Květy actually made a completely new recording based on the current line-up, which is also a synthesis of their successful march through the music scene in recent years. Thanks to all this, Květy Květy (Flowers Flowers) is one of their strongest albums ever.
Květy - Květy Květy (Flowers Flowers), Indies Scope 2020. 11 songs. Total time: 42:23
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