Let It Consume You: The Flickers’ “White Heat”

For a brief, brief second I let cynicism win out and I was convinced The Flickers would be the Japanese equivalent of Foster The People. I’m not exactly sure why this stupid though crept into my mind, but for some reason the Postal Service-ish blips and the muted singing voice…not to mention the dudes in this group look a little to good, making me think “manufactured”…made me scurry over to YouTube to look up everyone’s favorite school-shooting anthem “Pumped Up Kicks.” Thankfully, revisiting that strangely popular…like, I understand why people would like it, but how did it become a huge hit???…tune and letting the rest of “White Heat” confirmed I was just being stupid. The Flickers kill it with “White Heat” by not being predictable at all.

Those initial electro flourishes end up just being a small center piece of “White Heat,” because The Flickers have made a great building-towards-something-big track. Eventually drums take up shop next to the electronics, then guitars, then more guitars as the song rushes forward. Then everything bursts and those once wimpy vocals turn gruff and “White Heat” sorta spirals from there, barreling forward a little faster and a little more menacingly until it just runs out of fuel and comes to a quiet close, kicks once pumped now deflated but triumphant. Watch the video below.

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHoQjfwSBaY”]