After quietly recording the music and shooting the evocative visuals, SONfLUO shares a portrait of “provincial stillness and inner-seasonal unrest” while delivering a raw performance. A sound infused with pure emotion, a delivery both deceivingly contained and unapollogetically based. The song is both grounded and elevated by spatious visual storytelling which delivers a loving take of continental EU’s provincial north-west. Allthewhile the understated imagery seems to accentuate the bigger questions SUNfLUO is asking and answering; sometimes suggestively, othertimes overtly… with an exclamation mark.. or warning sign.
Based in Drachten, NL but born in- and uprooted from war torn Yugoslavia, SONfLUO was always going to be the one to ask the big questions and go through life with a spring and shuffle in his step few others could follow, or frankly…. care to. After shedding skin and parting from his career as a “V.E.T. teach”, SONfLUO is on a mission to “..plant and cultivate all seeds of music that the universe has been steadily filling my pockets with, and also just kind of… merge.. with that which grows. Like really become a part of that garden myself. “
And the music sure does grow on you, despite the clear D.I.Y. production, despite the occasionally unsteady and self-conscious vocal delivery. The song “from autumn” is deeply resonant and feely. There’s a vibe to it. Play it along the Smiths, R.E.M… early Coldplay or Radiohead… and it will blend, but play it next to newest mk.gee and it will match his scattered shine with it’s own leveled flow. Somehow at heart, SONfLUO sounds beyond time.
The video is deceptively straightforward and at first glance seems no more than ambient stills shot with a decent enough camera, by an almost decent enough filmmaker. But give it a second look, match the words and sound, and slowly but surely… the poetry is unveiled.
“To me, this is the most loving portrait of my town [Drachten] my province [Friesland], this nook of the world… I have seen to date. The music comes stright from the heart and speaks about much of the inner pains that are quietly endured and politely muffled in a struggle that many people deal with daily. It’s about not giving up on life while believing, no, knowing… there’s more beyond. Choosing life as a gift, a lesson, a calling.. Man I cry when that brass starts swirling and the words hover over it. And the video too, I put so much love in the shots and I had so much joy being there for it and meeting the people while out and about.. My town has heart, good people, and the kids in the video- really steal it. That was so.beautiful.”
And he’s not lying.. as we watch the video he tears up again. Emotional fellow this SONfLUO… and not afraid to show or say it.
