#flagship romance

A packed album release schedule in June and a rare two week vacation by yours truly means I am once again faced with the “multiple albums, two ears” dilemma. So it's time for another Review Roundup. This week, I've got reviews of two recent albums from artists about as far apart in the Americana tent as you can get as well as featuring the release of a single, which I rarely do but this one you'll want to hear.

Janiva Magness- Hard to Kill (June 24) There are some artists whose fame differs wildly based on audience. Janiva Magness is the dictionary definition of that artist. Never a household name in the music mainstream, Magness becomes a bonafide megastar when you step into the blues music community. The accolades speak for themselves. She's a seven-time Blues Music Award recipient, including being only the second woman to receive the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year Award, and a Grammy Award nominee. Her 15 previous albums have been mainstays on the blues music charts and she remains a highly sought artist on the blues festival scene. After penning her bare-all memoir Weeds Like Us in 2019, she got to work on her new album but quickly realized that many of the same themes of hardship, survival, and internal drive were emerging as themes on the album as well. So the album, Hard to Kill, was scheduled to release simultaneously with the audiobook of Weeds Like Us. In many ways, Hard to Kill is a musical memoir for Magness. In the album's twelve songs, you'll find hard edged electric blues (“Strong as Steel”), heart rending ballads (“Oh Pearl”), and pure Detroit soul (“I'm Still Here”). Entering the third decade of her career, Janiva Magness has more than proven herself Hard to Kill, and anyone who loves the blues should be very happy.

Regina Spektor- Home, Before and After (June 24) I may be the only person on Earth who found Regina Spektor by way of Thomas Dolby. While I knew of her in the same way anyone who follows music knows the name of artists who are charting, I had never dabbled in her music. When she made an appearance on Dolby's “Evil Twin Brother” from A Map of the Floating City in 2011, most people probably didn't even know it was her. The cameo was brief, spoken, and in Russian. But Spektor put so much noir intrigue into the few words she had to portray the seductive waitress in a shady bar who leads the protagonist astray that I knew I had to check her out. The rest, as they say, is history. Home, Before and After is Spektor's first album since 2016's Remember Us to Life and that's just far too long. Fortunately, Home, Before and After delivers. There are few artists who can balance whimsy and pathos the way Spektor can and she's managed to hone that edge even finer on this album. The sing-song schoolkid atmosphere of “Loveology” (“let's go to the movies, I will hum you a song about nothing at all”) exists companionably alongside the devastation of “One Man's Prayer” (“If I won't get to meet God and I won't get to be a God, then at least, God, let me be noticed”), culminating in the almost nine minute masterpiece of the album, “Spacetime Fairytale”, which bounces between moody (“I should get up by I instead make a face you used to make”) and uplifting (“I know there's no such thing as time. I know there's no such thing as mine. I'll try to sing a melody your way”). Like that mysterious Russian waitress in the Dolby tune, Regina Spektor keeps luring me away from the review album I should be listening to and back into the depths of her song.

To regular Vodka readers, it may seem that Flagship Romance posts are pretty frequent in the vast scheme of things, and that would be a fair assessment. I began reviewing and purchasing their music with their very first EP, The Fudge Sessions, and have continued to cover subsequent releases over the years. They’ve been a favorite duo, I won’t deny that. Their latest long player, Concentric, is the most ambitious set of songs from the duo to date, notching up the intensity and building on their long-standing habit of writing from their own experiences. His Town (seen / heard here) is a great example of what Concentric has to offer. Filmed in and around Truth Or Consequences, NM, Flagship Romance’s home base, this is an ode to a home and a people held in great regard.

One of the best ways to experience Flagship Romance, is to catch them live as they tour across the country. This is not as hard as it might seem, as the the duo tours extensively, often performing in small intimate settings and house concerts, perfect for experiencing their shared love of each other and of the music they create. 

You can find more information on Flagship Romance by heading up to their very complete web site. You can pick up the duo’s music from their store link, or get digital copies of most of their music from their bandcamp.com site. You can also find their music in most online stores, including Amazon. If you would like to look back on other Vodka Flagship Romance posts, simply click here.

Taking on social issues in a quiet and thoughtful way isn’t new for Vodka favorite duo, Flagship Romance. They have covered many difficult questions in ways that are not in your face, but gently reinforced. It’s a skill not many performers can pull out of their portfolios. Enter, Julie Wants To Go To War, a story of gender identity, desires, hopes, dreams and tragedy, which sadly paints a not too flattering picture of our country’s battle to properly acknowledge and accept those in the LGBTQ community. The song is included on the duo’s latest long-player, Concentric, due for general release in two days.

All proceeds for streaming of Julie Wants To Go To War are being donated to the Trevor Project. To help out, point your Spotify (or other streaming apps) to the song and play it!

The wonderful Flagship Romance duo, released Lemonade from their Tales From The Self-Help Section long-player over a year ago now (August 2017). We didn’t post it back then, although we posted a couple of other tracks, Friends and Scare Yourself and got a chance to see the duo perform live at a house concert here in Nebraska.  That said, we have been covering Flagship Romance since the beginning, so it should come as no surprise that we continue to support their work. 

So why a video for a song from over a year ago? Because coming soon, Flagship Romance will release their new long-player, Concentric, to an ever-growing fan base. Each Flagship Romance release builds on the talents of romantic side-kicks, Shawn Fisher and Jordyn Jackson, and their incredible ability to take stories from their ever expanding travels, shared by friends and acquaintances and nurtured by their own experiences, and turn them into magnificent pop-folk anthems. 

With a successful Kickstarter campaign under their belts, Concentric should be available sometime this year. If you are looking for a unique experience, consider hosting a house concert for Flagship Romance, or if that is a little scary, at least go out and see them when they are in your neck of the woods. You will not be disappointed!

As always, you can find more information on Flagship Romance by heading up to their web site, which includes all social and purchase links. Do it now!

Flagship Romance is a duo that we have been following since their humble beginnings. Friends is the latest video from the duo’s 2017 long-player, Tales From The Self-Help Section. This is an excellent long-player that should be in your collection!  Want to see Vodka’s other Flagship Romance posts? No problem! Simply click this link to the search results for these two,and you’ll even find out where we’ve referenced them in reviews for other groups.