By JOHN DALY
Psychedelic rockers from Northern California, Crooked Flower, have produced a dreamy ska-rock collection with their latest album, Into The Light.
It’s a wide-ranging musical landscape that Crooked Flower is securely planted in. The band has a diverse collection of music ranging from Crosby Stills and Nash-type sounds to No Doubt killer beats. The band says the songs have the art of the party as a theme and we’ll go with that.
Fun Opener and Strong Psych-Rock Songs
Album opener “Dancing” is a strong rock song with a fun beat and cool synthy-guitar sounds and plenty of reverb to give fans of early 1980s sounds a good earful. It’s a fun song made for — what else — dancing. It’s not too often a psych-style album opens with an upbeat, driving song.
“Around and Around” could be a pop hit on the radio, it’s the strongest song on the album with a good beat and fun melody.
The tune “10 Million Seeds” has a dark reggae, quasi-shoe-gaze style sound. With Angelina Dang’s vocals this is a poignant and compelling tune that advocates for people living their lives as they like.
Another track on this latest album that evokes emotion is “Falling,” a beautiful song that carries the artistry of the band to another level with great guitar work, fun percussion, and intricate bass lines.
Crooked Flower’s first three albums were all released in 2016 and 2017 with End Of The Highway, The Moon Anyway, and On My Mind. The band has been touring around Northern California.
Check out Crooked Flower at The Mint: