It has been more than two years in the making but Moncton folk-pop musician Phil Flowers has finally released his debut CD, entitled People People, to the public at large.
Flowers is no stranger to the local music scene, having performed with Moncton band The Courage Of Being prior to becoming a solo artist. He celebrated the release of his debut solo effort last night at The Paramount in Moncton.
The album is now available at Spin-It Records on Main Street and Frank’s Music on Carson Drive.
The bulk of the tracks featured on People People were written over a four-month span that Flowers was stationed in Oromocto for work purposes.
“I was in Oromocto four nights a week and even though Fredericton was relatively close by, I didn’t go there all too often,” Flowers says. “I sat in my hotel room, drank whiskey and wrote songs.”
Though he maintains any feelings of isolation or loneliness found on the record are merely coincidental and not the direct product of his extended stay in Oromocto, Flowers will also be the first to admit that his overall view of the world tends to be rather pessimistic in general and that those feelings would have crept into the music regardless of his surroundings.
Listening to People People, it is obvious that Flowers’ self-assessment of loneliness permeating the songs is right on the money, however the buoyant musical accompaniment provided by Flowers’ band over the record’s 10 tracks helps to nicely offset this alienation. Best of all, there is a cohesion running through the record that allows each track sufficient breathing room without him needing to introduce multiple genres of music and only muddle things further.
“Personally, I like records as a whole,” Flowers deadpans. “I listen to music and tend to listen to full records as opposed to just a couple of tracks. As a musician, I can’t really see anything else but the record as a whole.
“I see a record as a period of time of an artists’ creation and depending on their state of mind, the creation could always take another shape at a later date. People People represents where I was at musically at that point in my life two-plus years ago.”
Given the lapse of time between the making of his record and its release, one has to wonder when the public might expect to hear more material from the up-and-coming Flowers.
“Making People People, the process dragged on for so long there was a bit of a question about bringing new songs in to the mix to complement those I had already recorded but I just had to put my foot down and impose a deadline and focus on getting the record completed.
“The next record should be done much quicker,” Flowers says confidently.
Article published in November 26, 2010 edition of the Times & Transcript