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#Flume albums skin
Streten is more than capable of creating interesting, exciting music, but Skin is not it. However, much of that preview is nowhere to be seen on Skin, and has been replaced with fairly middle-of-the-road pop music. It felt like an exciting kaleidoscope of synths and samples, and held great promise. Before the release of the album, Streten released a 4-minute “Preview” of the album, cutting together instrumental snippets of various songs, filled with creative textures, and heavy, punishing beats. However, he also occasionally explores more industrial and abrasive textures, and shows off his sadly untapped potential. Streten is obviously aiming for radio success (and has largely found it), but has to sacrifice much of what made him distinctive to get there. Skin feels very much like a record torn between two masters. Numb & Getting Colder features some expressive vocal samples, and KUČKA’s trap-esque trills fit well with the off-kilter percussion. The two songs featuring Australian singer KUČKA are also standouts, as her airy voice allows the production to be foregrounded. It’s very reminiscent of alternative R&B producers like Arca or NGUZUNGUZU, and shows what Streten can accomplish when he sets his mind to it. Wall F**k is easily the most interesting song on the album, with Streten abstaining from traditional melody to explore almost atonal territory. However, the tracks on which Streten allows himself to experiment with his style a little bit fare better. Closing track Tiny Cities features a flat, emotionless performance from the usually excellent Beck, and it’s a particularly sour note to end the record on. Tracks with misjudged collaborators fare even worse. Streten’s contribution just feels pedestrian, and marks a notable downturn from his innovative productions on early tracks like Sleepless and Drop the Game. The chorus is irresistibly catchy, but that’s all down to the vocal melody. Say It is stronger, with more production flourishes complimenting Tove Lo’s sensual vocals – “let me f**k you right back” – but the track feels like it lacks a sense of identity. The same issue arrises on several other songs. Her contribution is strong, and her lyrics express a pained regret with impressive specificity – “I’m falling on my knees / forgive me, I’m a f**king fool” – but the instrumental backing feels extremely generic, as though Streten felt the need to sand the edges off his sound to fit it on pop radio.
Instead, he melds the “wonky” drums he popularised on his first record with fairly generic synth pads and catchy vocals from singer Kia. In a pre-release statement, Streten stated he wanted to explore new and interesting textures on Skin, but those textures are nowhere to be found.
Lead single Never Be Like You is a perfect example of the album’s issues. Unfortunately, being pulled in many directions ultimately becomes Skin’s undoing. Instead of just creating music he likes, Flume (Harley Streten) is now expected to recreate his initial success, but also to advance as a musician and stylist. After the initially small release of Flume’s self titled debut album blew up, he has become one of the most popular electronic artists in the world, and as such, finds him serving many masters on his follow up, Skin. Breakout electronic albums are notoriously difficult to follow up.
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