BY MARK BOWMAN
The Flegel family is next up in a long line of talented musical families, from the Jacksons to the Wilsons (of Beach Boys fame) to the Deal family, which brought us Pixies and Breeders.
Three prolific brothers — Pat, Mat and Andy — have consistently been making some the most innovative music of the last decade. They’ve been involved with Women, Viet Cong, Preoccupations, Faux Fur, Cindy Lee, Androgynous Mind and more.
It all started with the two oldest brothers Pat and Mat with the legendary cult band Women.
In every music fan’s life, there are a few special moments that become etched into your memory for eternity upon the first listen of a life-changing band. For many, it was the first time they heard The Beatles, or the time they discovered Pink Floyd in the basement of their best friend’s house when rifling through his cool older brother’s music library. For me, I will never forget Christmas 2008 when my uncle came barreling through the front door with a full deck of burned CD s, eager to play this new record from a Calgary freak rock band called Women. I was just a teenager and had never heard anything like it before. The complexity, the pop melodies, the strange time signatures, the weird angular discord guitar playing; I was mesmerized.
The band’s 2010 follow up, Public Strain, would eventually become my favorite record of all time. It ignited an unquenchable thirst for more of this uniquely bizarre brand of noise pop. Women would permanently disband soon thereafter upon the death of guitar player Christopher Reimer. In the wake of this breakup, there was a vacuum in the Calgary music scene of dozens of bands trying to recreate this magic.
To no surprise, many of the best post-Women formations came from those closest to the group; members of the Flegel family. Pat started the band Viet Cong/Preoccupations alongside fellow Women drummer Mike Wallace. Andy joined the band Faux Fur alongside Jean-Sebastian Audet (of Un Blonde). Pat started the most experimental and creatively ambitious project of them all: Cindy Lee. Under this moniker, Pat Flegel has released two full lengths titled “Malenkost” and “Act of Tenderness”. His most recent compilation is a very limited edition (100 copies) cassette-only release titled “Model Express”.
Much like his past releases, this compilation seems to actively be a counter argument in every way to how a record is “supposed” to sound. There is very little in terms of song or album structure. Listening to a Cindy Lee record is like an eclipse into the mind of a scatterbrained genius: Each song is a different idea, a new combination of familiar elements arranged in a way that has not been done before. Some songs sound like polished pop records turned upside down. Others are almost unfinished drone ideas. Still others are high-concept art rock songs.
This record is not an easy listen. It is challenging. It is engaging. It is beautiful.
