When half of your year so far is spent booming around on trains, new and exciting music is essential. Twice now, Acid Klaus, Adrian Flanagan, the man behind it all, has pulled commuters out of a pitiful ditch. First with his ecstatic, sickly little beast of a debut LP, Step on My Travelator. It featured a fine form of collaborations from legend Richard Hawley to the integral sounds of Hannah Hu. Noting the need for an extra pair of hands on deck, and the importance and innovation that comes from collaboration, Flanagan hits out again with his latest single, You’re a Freak. You are. Philly Piper vocalises that comment, Flanagan bashes out some brooding, beat-pumping synths to wrap it nicely.
What a treat it is. For those out there that find themselves dawdling, procrastinating or struggling to shift that doomed feeling in their stomach, You’re a Freak is the perfect cleanser. Enough of that sorrowful feeling, get it knocked on the head with some fruitful and enduring talent from this longstanding, underrated talent. Hitting these sly little notes here or there, the sum of its parts brings out a sexy disco number with synth aplenty. Channelling those 1980s shots, the flashy lights, the leopard dancing, and the desire that spills through those hip-shaking grooves, it all comes off without a hitch for Acid Klaus. Flanagan plays up some nice supporting vocals, deep-fried in distortion and bleeding well into the high-strung synth pops scattered underneath Piper’s vocals.
Her conviction is crucial here and the dedicated shift she puts into calling listeners a freak, meant as a compliment in the way Pulp called themselves misfits and misshapes, is stellar. Her vocals give way ever-so-briefly to a rising synth beat toward the end of the track but that chorus is too hot to stop, you are a freak. You’re a Freak is incredibly smooth with bringing visualisation to where this song would find itself. Spotlight-clad clubs, those slick little nods to the dance floor, the spilt drinks and spoilt relationships that get stuck in the mix of sweat, blood and tears every Friday night. It is a freak-powered song, and only the best of those that got deep into the heart of that scene will find that intimacy. For those that do not, it is not too late to be a freak, but get into the crowd for the best experience.
You’re a Freak tickles something in the brain, some righteous need for self-acceptance. An oddly reassuring track for that purpose. Beautifully mixed and an incredible single release in an already busy year. Acid Klaus once again has no trouble standing out among the sea of songs. There is something about it, that feeling of movement and familiarity that cannot be captured through anything but physicality and movement. Dance enough to this and it will probably cure back pain. That does not come from the mouth of a doctor but movement and enough of it to quality music is surely a potential solution. You’re a Freak takes aim at those freaks and geeks and throws them onto the dancefloor, the crowds chanting and clapping around them, their smiles melting and their eyes wider and wider as that groovy master Flanagan whips up another storm.
Buy yourself the digital copy of You’re a Freak from Bandcamp.
