With an explosion of psych-rock, it’s hard to cut through the noise and get to the truly talented musicians—luckily for Denver, local band Flaural fits the bill. Comprised of Collin Johnson, vocalist and bassist, Noah Pfaff, guitarist, Connor Birch, multi-instrumentalist, and Nick Berlin, drummer, Flaural surely picked up dozens of new fans last week at the Marquis Theater, where the band, along with Oyster Kids, opened for Dan Deacon.
Photo: Jocelyn Rockhold
Photo: Jocelyn Rockhold
Performing in front of a sold-out venue full of PBR-drinking college kids and adults looking for a night out is no easy task—keeping a crowd’s attention as an opener can be difficult, but Flaural has the audience hanging on every dreamy riff and smooth sense of storytelling. Flaural’s sound is like passing through a door and finding a whole new world on the other side, one filled with lush greenery and hues of blue and purple, where all stars are shooting and the body runs on beer, not water. Flaural has the rare ability to take us to dimensions other than our own—the band’s set is a journey that captivates the crowd from from beginning to end.
Flaural portrays a rare sense of ease layered within its live performance—Birch is a stoic yet enigmatic presence on the synth and various other instruments, while Pfaff looks out from underneath a wild mess of hair to produce perfectly executed riffs. One of the most charming aspects of Flaural’s live presence is that the band doesn’t take itself too seriously—Berlin is all smiles on the drums, and Johnson cheers the crowd with a tall beer in hand. Of course, there’s also the particularly enthusiastic crowd chanting the band members’ names with alcohol-fueled abandon. Flaural captures the attention of a large-range of music fans, from the punk rockers to the wildly dancing rave kids up front, to those who likely stumbled by the venue and decided to pop in for a spontaneous show. Those spur-of-the-moment concert-goers certainly lucked out with Flaural—each member brings a different talent to the stage, from Johnson’s effortless, incredible vocals to Birch’s fitting introspection.
Photo: Jocelyn Rockhold
Photo: Jocelyn Rockhold
Photo: Jocelyn Rockhold
When considering a fantastic set, it seems impossible to hone in on top moments—however, one can safely say that the best moment of the night is when the first few familiar sounds of “Nonnie” ring out. While the song is the band’s most popular, it’s for good reason—with rambling, bouncing instrumentals and an addicting chorus, “Nonnie” catches us like a fish in a net.
Flaural, hopefully, will be releasing new music soon (to be fair, we still can’t get enough of “Over Imaginary Cigarettes.”) The show at the Marquis served as a kick-off celebration of sorts in preparation for Flaural’s west coast tour—thankfully, the band will only be gone for a month, and will be playing plenty of local shows soon. For now, we’ll have to stick to hitting the loop button on Flaural’s Spotify.