Flag Festival
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Louis Richter: guitar, vocals
Ryan Merry: bass
On tracks 1, 3, 5 and 6:
Christian Merry: guitar, backing vocals, keys, harmonica and kazoo
Morgane Lhote: keyboards
Tim 'Freedaddy' Lochmaier: drums
On tracks 2 and 4:
Justin Hamilton: guitar
Tim Spelman: keyboards
Jonathan Edmonds: drums
Tracks 1, 3, 5 and 6 recorded at Monsieur Merlot's Highbury Boudoir, London, England. Mixed by the brothers Merry and Danny G at Studio G, London N16. Mastered by Marcus Barczak.
Tracks 2 and 4 recorded at Langside – Sassafras, Melbourne. Mixed by Mid-State Orange and Tony Cornish. Mastered by Jon Ruberto at Crystal Mastering.
"Mid-State Orange play hypnotic riffs paired with a wild mercury keyboard sound, coming across for all the world like Stereolab would've done at any point in the last ten years, if they'd actually wanted to have a top ten hit."
So said Ben Clancy of NME back in 2002 upon the initial release of Flag Festival. That Stereolab's long-time keyboard player, Morgane Lhote, was guesting for a dozen or so of the Australian band's recent London shows and recordings wasn't lost on him.
Mid-State Orange's Flag Festival EP is versatile, hook-laden and utterly compulsive. The bouncy mid-pace of the title track and 'The Boy Who Dropped His Omelette' gives an overall light-hearted feel to the EP, often masking the emotional content of the songs. Their sound is also bittersweet country music when it wants to be, torn between deep despair and dark romance, as found in songs like 'So Hard'.
Astride a collision of 80s indie pop guitars, 70s synths and 60s grooves, Mid-State Orange initially came together in Melbourne in 1999. Four of Flag Festival's six tracks were recorded in London in 2001, after the band's two founding members Louis Richter and Ryan Merry landed in England with their guitars and a bunch of new songs.
Upon returning to Melbourne, Richter and Merry reformed the band with friends and acquaintances and began captivating audiences everywhere with their unexpected sounds and brand new freshness.
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