¡FIASCO! - Remember Your Flowers (2024) [Hi-Res]

Washington DC-based ¡FIASCO!’s “Remember Your Flowers”, their fourth release and second on Unit Records, offers a new view of the band’s unique sound and collective “not-jazz” improvisational style, while remaining an extension of their prior work.

Recorded live and without isolation booths or headphones, the sound captured on “Remember Your Flowers” wraps around the listener, breathing and human in a manner which captures the essence and urgency of the band’s live performances.

The opening track, “River of Noise”, an homage to the real and figurative noise of a hyperconnected world, opens with a slow burn, builds on a slow burn and leaves the essential question unanswered.

“Bag of Nails” splashes across the air with electro-impressionist textures, while the innocuously titled “Sneeze” brings the band to the brink of apocalyptic. The hard-hitting “Born to Break”, a staple of ¡FIASCO! live performances since the band’s inception, is presented here in a new arrangement.

Title track “Remember Your Flowers” and the closer “Move” form a contrasting pair of not-subtle nods to major band influence Paul Motian.

“Remember Your Flowers” follows the groups earlier Unit release, Anger Artist (2024), as well as the band’s independent releases “Arson” (2020) and “Post-Truth” (2021). Both Arson and Post-Truth received substantial regional acclaim, being named “Best DC Jazz Album” by CapitalBop for 2020 and 2021, respectively. In addition to coalescing and codifying the band’s “not-jazz” aesthetic, the releases paved the way for performances at the DC Jazz Festival and with fellow jazz-adjacent acts like Messthetics and Hariett Tubman.

Nelson Dougherty – guitar
Andrew Frankhouse – saxophone
Stephen Arnold – bass guitar
Keith Butler Jr. – drums