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"After the dial tone wears itself thin, this sound will rise…"
So finishes the catchy first single, "Wire Tap Out" on Flee the Seen's premiere full length album, Doubt Becomes the New Addiction. This song is one of many fast, punky sounding tunes on the album. The entire CD is chock full of addicting, pounding riffs and raspy vocals accompanied with sick, metaphorical lyrics. Flee the Seen is a band that either you hate or you love, gripping the attention of audiences either way. And if you love them, their songs are stuck on repeat in your head forever, an everlasting friend.
The interestingly named Flee the Seen hails from Kansas City, Kan., not the first place you'd think of for the birth of a fairly heavy punk/emo sound. Despite this, Flee the Seen has exploded on both a local and regional level. The young band has won several trophies for the Kansas-centered music awards called the Pitch Awards (sponsored by Pitch magazine) for Best New Band, Best Punk Band, and Best Female Vocalist, pointing out the unique talents of lead singer and bassist Kim Anderson. Although they're still far from hitting the top of the billboard charts, they have gained a respectable amount of coverage and fame. For starters, they've opened for bands such as Weezer, Coheed and Cambria, Alkaline Trio, and 30 Seconds To Mars, all before releasing their first album-with only two EPs (Fighting Chance and Sound of Sirens) under their belt. They've been featured in popular music magazines such as Alternative Press (AP), highlighted as a band to look out for in the coming year. Signing with Facedown records (home of the well-liked hardcore/metal band Nodes of Ranvier) became a great accomplishment for the band -- a sampler by the label has been included in magazines and Hot Topic stores nationwide, with Flee the Seen tracks showcasing their talent.
Female-fronted bands are nothing new. Well-known acts Evanescence, The Distillers, and Straylight Run all feature female singers. What makes Flee the Seen's female singer unique is that, while she still sounds vaguely like a female when she sings, her voice is one that is not typical of girl rock. Instead of operatic ballads like those out of the mouth of Amy Lee or folk-pop murmurs like those of Regina Spektor , Flee the Seen's Anderson goes for a new perspective.
Flee the Seen is a combination of emo and pop, having depressing, personified lyrics but fast beating, pounding rhythms in the likes of Green Day or Rancid. The singers of emo bands are mostly boys who can both sing and scream, spewing the lyrics fast with emotion and adding shrieks for effect during the chorus. Their voices are indistinguishable -- when you hear an emo voice, you know it's emo music.
This is where the unique factor comes in for Flee the Seen. The stereotype for the band, since it's female-led, would be that there would be soft, emotional sopranos accompanying a flowing, fairy-like image of a girl. This is not the case. Kim Anderson takes on the voice of an emo boy -- literally. It is still a female voice, obviously, but it duplicates emo vocals to the "T." She self-pities with the best of them in her microphone.
And her image? She's one of the guys, ditching stereotypical corsets or dresses and wearing hoodies and tight jeans. She also duplicates their makeup, wearing smoky eye shadow and way too much black eyeliner. She even goes so far as to don the short, shaggy, over the eyes haircut that is seen around every corner on boys at concerts these days.
As for on-stage antics, she does not bother to sweeten things up -- she headbangs and jumps around with her fellow band mates, swinging her bass around and bumping into them, sometimes on purpose, sometimes not -- part of the beauty of live, uninhibited rock.
With a one-of-a-kind singer like Anderson as a backdrop, Flee the Seen's music is dominated by their beating, dripping-with-feeling lyrics and pounding guitar hooks. In the song, "November 5th," Anderson casually spews out, "Last words are souvenirs, chew them up, spit them out, take them home for your collections," showing an honest but somewhat amusing display of anger.
The lyrics in "300 Voices at Liberty Hall" point out, "The hardest part is over, I can't tell you what you already know," with complicated, seventies style guitar solos classically supporting this sentiment.
Like every CD, though, there is a weak point. The first song on the album, "Celebrate the Static," is unnecessarily rough on the ears. The title of the track is certainly not deceiving -- the song is complete static with the only lyrics being screamed, "Why not celebrate the static?" The artistry of it is beyong me to find.
Overall, though, AP was right in saying Flee the Seen is a band to watch. The vocals are unique, the music and words are solid, and overall these Kansas kids have a well-rounded dynamic. Their debut album, Doubt Becomes the New Addiction, is out now.
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