Griff says; Mykonos Flame - setting the world on fire!

You may remember that back in November (see 'here') I got very excited about a band, Mykonos Flame (pictured), who were gradually releasing their eponymous debut album, track by track, on their soundcloud page. At the time of writing that first piece, they had only posted four songs, but these were so intriguing, and seemed to promise so much, that I couldn't hold back in writing about them. I'm now pleased to inform you that the completed album, as of 18th December 2011, is now officially released. The finished article contains eleven tracks in total and I'm delighted to say that the early promise suggested by the initial tracks has now been wholly fulfilled.


For those of you who missed out originally, Mykonos Flame emerged in 2010 between Amsterdam and Rio de Janeiro, and is formed by Johnny Kao (vocals, ukulele and banjo), Daniel Schmidt (backing vocals, guitar and piano), Daniel Hawk (drums, backing vocals), André Falcão (guitar), Danilo Moura (bass, baixolão) and Alex Little Roach (trumpet). I initially described the band's sound as being characterized by a merging of international and Brazilian folk-styles and rhythms; a cross-pollination of MPB, pop, indie-folk, samba and the dance music of Eastern Europe and suggested a similarity to the likes of Beirut or DeVotchKa. Having had a good opportunity to now listen to the whole of the album I'd say that the tracks we first showcased on the blog, 'Jeanne D'Arc' and 'Tutti', are at the more folky end of the Mykonos Flame sound spectrum and that this extends into guitar-based indie-rock, very successfully too, when the spirit moves them.



I'm going to embed three excellent songs from the album (below) to demonstrate the versatility of the band's sound.
First up is Wolfmother Lover, which rather reminds this listener of Gomez:

Wolfmother Lover (official album version) by Mykonos Flame

Next is Joe Doe, which has the ghost of Franz Ferdinand flitting about it:

Joe Doe (official album version) by Mykonos Flame

Finally, here's the bouncy, pyschedelic folk of Sally Joint:

Sally Joint (official album version) by Mykonos Flame

Not unsurprisingly, given that they're too good to stay a secret for long, the band have just signed to the Astronauta Discos label in Brazil. You can order the new CD from their or from the band's Facebook page. In the meantime, the tracks are sstill all available as free digital downloads from their soundcloud page. Mykonos Flame are currently looking for a UK/European distributor so if you're interested get in touch with me here at The Streetlamp or directly with the band.

If you're in Brazil this month you may be interested to know that Astronauta Discos is planning a launch event for Mykonos Flame. The event is part of the project 'Som em 4 Tempos' , and takes place in the Sidney Miller Hall, in Rio de Janeiro,on January 18th. The event kicks off at 18:30 there is free admission, with distribution of passwords an hour beforehand. See the Astronauta Discos site for more details.


Griff
xx