Flesh Freaks by Feedbag: EP Review

by Gabe Finch January 10, 2023

January 10, 2023

Feedbag’s EP ‘Flesh Freaks’ immersed me in a world of eternal experiences the moment I plugged in my headphones. This project is unlike any other, combining rock with a nostalgic ambiance. Experimental, weird, odd, creepy, and gloomy are just a few of the adjectives that can be used to describe this marvelously unusual thirteen-minute piece of music. Guitars shake our hearts, melancholy vocals sometimes make us cry, sometimes make us dream, and titillate our imagination.

‘Flesh Freaks’ includes a lovely version of ‘Kiss Me’ by Sixpence None The Richer. A fresh rendition that takes us on a stroll while honoring Feedbag’s music and aesthetic flair in all its splendor ‘Kiss Me’ is a melodic cut that’s equally dark, mysterious, and captivating as the rest of the tracks on the tracklist, with similar droning, riverbed feelings. This little piece offers lush forests of reverb and a rich, dizzying chorus that would sound wonderful at home or somewhere fancy. The one-chord composition ‘Blood’ follows. This frightening clip is lengthy. ‘Blood’ is a bizarre, spooky drone that would sound exactly perfect if it were created by Angelo Badalamenti, with startling guitar strums that are equally dark and frantic, the looming, deep bass, and Kiana’s passionate delivery of ethereal vocals.

This brief work, minimalist in composition, features what may be termed a rhythm that binds the purposefully fragile orchestration together. With the lush, wide choir chanting and the decisive sounding bass line and slogging arrangement, ‘Stagnant Pond’ sounds tragic and apocalyptic, which all makes sense when you realize it was influenced by Dungeons & Dragons. Flesh Freaks is truly bizarre, which makes Feedbag’s debut a freaky awesome one. It’s natural, weird, strange, tough, and ultimately a lot of fun.