Exploding Flowers – Watermelon Peacock (Vinyl)

The Paisley Underground meets The Dunedin Sound!

“Watermelon Peacock is a return to the past, power pop fun with reverb drenched vocals, chiming 12 string, all the good stuff wrapped up in bite sized gems.” Bob Scott, The Bats
Watermelon Peacock is Exploding Flowers third release packed with analog production, poetic lyricism, and the same strong melodies and hooks weve now come to expect from a band that prioritises its songwriting with smart left turns. Both economic and expansive, they utilize all measures to craft something both beautiful, grand, and driving. Joined on this release by indie veterans Rachel Love of seminal pop legends Dolly Mixture, and Jowe Head of D.I.Y. legends Swell Maps and post-punk/mod/psychedelia legends Television Personalities, this is a release that has something for everyone to enjoy. Album artwork by artist and musician Jill Emery (Hole, Mazzy Star).

Exploding Flowers are a Los Angeles quartet who have crafted their own universe of guitar-based pop, with its flourishes of piano, organ, synthesizers, vibraphone and glockenspiel on top of a foundational rhythm section. This music continues a lineage of like-minded melody chasers, from both past and present. Led by Sharif Dumani who has worked with a variety of artists which include Alice Bag, Cody Chesnutt, Sex Stains, the Moon Upstairs, Classics Of Love, Nick Garrie, Jowe Head, Nikki Sudden, Silver Apples and many more, the quartet is comprised of members Josh Mancell (the Moon Upstairs, Cell\Borg), Happy Tsugawa-Banta (Lassie Foundation, Ray Barbee), and Mark Sogomian (the Moon Upstairs). With two previous albums and an ep released, they have been compared to everything from Big Star to the Soft Boys, and L.A.s Paisley Underground to New Zealands 1980s-era Flying Nun Records guitar pop bands The Bats & The Chills. Exploding Flowers explore some similar territory but expand to occupy their own space in that landscape.

To quote journalist Mariana Timony of Bandcamp Dailyfor their Essential Releases spread on the group, A colorful and kind-spirited amalgamation that will press all the right buttons for a certain type of pop fan starved for some jangling guitars, handclaps, and sparkling melodies in these days of glitchy suspended animation experienced mainly via computer screen.

Exclusive Aus/NZ Edition from tautahi label Leather Jacket Records, limited edition of 100 on pink vinyl.

Tracklist1.Crowded Streets
2.What Are We Going To Do
3.Life On A Timeline
4.A Colour Box
5.All In Stride
6.We’re Flying Half As High
7.American Strife, American Life
8.(No Arms Around) The Isolationist
9.Beneath Our Feet
10.Hungry Ghost
11.Slow And Paced
12.The Grass Grows On
13.Build A Bridge
14.Across A Sea