Impressive debut for rising Mexican-American star in the making.
Flores is certainly making a name for himself with a string of singles and EPs to his name with the likes of the New York Times praising him with “…he has a superpower; tapping emotions” and he’s garnered over 325 million streams to date and Rolling Stone chose him as one of 25 “Future Of Music” artists. This for a singer-songwriter who’s only 23 years old and is now releasing his first album. Earlier this year, he performed his UK debut live performance at the Long Road Festival.
He’s fast gained an amazing following for his emotionally vulnerable songwriting – this acute honesty came to the fore recently when he was forced to admit he needed to take a break from his hectic touring schedule, for the sake of his mental health. He spent time at a counselling retreat and got better. Amazingly, Flores wrote the majority of this wonderful album at the same time he was battling with his mental health.
With such an assured and powerful album, it’s nothing short of astonishing what he’s achieved. There are fourteen track here, ranging from classic country fare to folk and even rock sounds – and it all melds effortlessly. Some of the songs were co-writes – and those artists include Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor and Aaron Raitiere.
Album opener is the title track with impactful acoustic strumming and fiddle before the band kicks in with aplomb, on a song about Flores ruminating on his home town of Oklahoma. ‘Oh Susanna’ is a song where Flores is singing to his fans – he’s quoted as saying “I tried to help, but I can’t, because I’m just human at the end of the day and I have to take a step back”. It’s a lovely track – slightly hampered by the ubiquitous “oh oh oh” singing that so many producers insist on adding to current songs.
Things get a little grittier on the lead single rocker ‘Don’t Wanna Say Goodnight’ and it’s a fabulous tub-thumping song – with a sing-along chorus and a wonderfully catchy feel. There’s a great video to this which really captures the energy of the song – but frustratingly it’s an edit of the version included on the album. It’s an album highlight.
‘The Truth’ is a slower but rocky song about Flores romantic imperfections and is a a really strong tune – greatly enhanced by the playing including a fantastic guitar solo at the end by Mike LoPinto. ‘Forget Your Voice’ is another really strong track – Flores has a great voice and he manages to bring out real emotion in his performances – and this is another memorable belter. ‘Stillwater’ is a contemplative song about those people who inhabit town across the US where as they grow up they want to leave home but can’t pluck up the courage to actually do so.
Produced by Beau Bedford (Orville Peck, Shane Smith & The Saints) this album has a quite superb roster of eleven other musicians and singers performing on the album – and it really is an accomplished and strong debut. We’re going to be hearing a lot more about Flores and knowing the challenges he had writing and recording these songs – it’s a real accomplishment.
