Confusion Is Next

Devin Welch and Robin Stein met as high schoolers at an all-ages
Blood Brothers show; now they’re brothers in dub. The Seattle duo apply
dub’s use of space—they cite King Tubby and the Slits as primary
influences—and knack for psychedelic sound effects in the service
of a severe yet richly detailed brand of post-punk that will resonate
with those into current and past Welch endeavors like Past Lives,
Shoplifting, or Chromatics.

The bearded multi-instrumentalists came together in 2007 when Welch
needed last-minute help performing a show at Gallery 1412. “It was a
one-off thing,” Stein recalls. “I assumed we’d always play music
together, but maybe not as a formal band. Chris Ando [now of Talbot
Tagora] was putting on shows at SS Marie Antoinette and Artworks, and
he asked us to play a show the next week.”

“All of a sudden we were taking it more seriously because the
opportunities seemed to be presenting themselves,” Welch adds. “It
seemed to have a good musical chemistry, even though it was really,
really loose. I don’t think we knew what kind of songs we wanted to
write. It was sort of free-form—not necessarily improvised, but
it wasn’t an obvious musical direction.”

“Devin and I were hanging out, and we would try to jam out these
weird sort of things,” Stein says.

Stein considers himself more of a visual artist than a musician; he
studied photography at New York’s Parsons the New School for Design,
but also dabbled with drum machines and samplers while playing bass
with a singer friend. When Stein moved back to Seattle after graduating
college, he had trouble finding work in his field. However, he became
inspired to make music after visiting his buddy Welch in a Central
District house called the Office of Dr. Glorious (“like some
bomb-shelter cabaret or something,” Stein cracks) where quality shows
happened.

A month and a half after forming, Flexions cut a 7-inch single that
reflected their burgeoning psych and dub proclivities, and then in May
issued Leisure Time, an eight-track EP available on vinyl and
MP3 via the Journal of Popular Noise. Tracks like “Fetal Horses”
(not to be confused with John Vanderslice’s song of the same title,
both of which draw from Oliver Sacks’s Musicophilia), “Leisure
Time,” and “Underneath the Bank” exude a vital tension. Welch’s guitar
slashes at unexpected angles and clangs and ripples with a fluid
intensity like some combination of Television’s Tom Verlaine and Gang
of Four’s Andy Gill, though he declares Sonic Youth and the Slits’ Viv
Albertine to be a bigger inspiration. (“I like people who are
amateurish but doing really creative things within their skill level.”)
Leisure Time producer Grippo calls Welch the best guitarist in
Seattle. “[Devin sounds] fresh while still playing rock guitar. Whereas
a lot of guys do weird stuff like putting things under strings or stuff
that doesn’t make it sound like a guitar anymore to sound new, he
manages to do it with pretty standard playing—super clean playing
that all seems intentional. Also, he uses a lot of pawnshop gear and
still makes it sound amazing.” Similarly amazing, Stein’s dubwise bass
luxuriously fills in the low end while the rhythms—mostly done on
a 707, but augmented by Truckasauras/Foscil drummer Tyler Swan on two
tracks—understatedly keep things head-nod-worthy.

But the 12-inch isn’t all angular, high-
pressure rock
incisions. “Popping Off” is a meditative spangle à la obscure
4AD act Dif Juz, and “Over Tanned” sways tropically into Martin Denny’s
bamboo-thatched hut, buoyed by KHV vocalist Shannon Perry’s dulcet
tones. It’s a gorgeous anomaly, a sweet luau that contrasts with the
furrow-browed dissections of labor elsewhere on the platter.

“We based it around a bossa-nova beat on a Casio, which is already
the weirdest distortion of what that rhythm really is,” Welch states.
“It’s such a reduced, lifeless version of what that kind of rhythm
sounds like in real life. That’s the most plastic form of exotica I can
think of.”

“It’s sort of like second-generation kitsch,” Stein elaborates.
“Kitsch is removing the aesthetic value from it. Maybe we can return
some aesthetic value to kitsch itself. I’m not sure kitsch has that
much value, but it has some value, so let’s explore the in-between
areas.”

What if “Over Tanned” (deservedly) becomes a hit? “That song always
throws people a curve,” Welch admits. “Then we follow it up with
something more abrasive; it leaves people confused. I kind of like
that.”

Do Flexions ever think about where in Seattle’s musical ecosystem
they fit? “It’s a joke that we’re always the odd band out on almost
every show that we play,” Stein says with a chuckle. “There are very
few shows where it feels like we’re part of some dominant paradigm in
Seattle music. We’re not in it to change things or be
groundbreaking.”

“I don’t think there are any expectations that we’re going to
destroy and completely re-create music,” Welch admits, also laughing.
“We play around with the presentation and the expectation about what is
live music versus recorded music or DJed music. We play to backing
tracks that are precomposed, and it’s not just a drum machine, there
are actually recorded elements in the backing tracks: extra guitar
tracks, keyboards, backing vocals. For some people who are more
closed-minded, that’s bothersome. It amazes me that people don’t like
bands that have guitars but don’t have a real drummer. People seem to
get real uptight about that. It astonishes me. So I like playing around
with that expectation of what a rock show should be.”

While Leisure Time rewardingly caps Flexions’ first phase,
they’ve begun working on their next release, which they say will be
less typically post-punky while “embracing some things that felt almost
uncomfortably pop initially and sort of work into it,” Stein says.
“[Although] I don’t think we’re going pop, per se.” Welch expands.
“It’s almost like an R&B kind of feel—not like modern
R&B… and more psychedelic, as opposed to the more prickly,
clinical sound, especially in the guitar realm. It’s more open and
jammy.”

With a July West Coast tour and a slot on the Vera Stage at Capitol
Hill Block Party ahead of them, Flexions’ leisure time surely will
diminish. They seem okay with that.

“[Flexions] is perhaps the most relaxed and open-feeling project
I’ve ever been in,” Welch asserts. “It doesn’t feel like we’re hampered
by any specific expectations about what we’re trying to do. It feels
nice to have something that feels more like a blank slate, maybe
because we’re both less directly engaged with just one role in the
context of the band. It feels like it has a lot of freedom to go in

different directions.”