The Newest Noise for Your Listening Pleasure! | By Nicholas Senior
Florida Man
Charleston, South Carolina
Tropical Depression | May 3 | Spartan Records
RIYL: Bizarre outbursts. Surprise alligators. Shit going down at the Walmart.
Pick up Tropical Depression HERE!
It’s some juicy irony that the band named after the tragicomic “Florida Man” meme reside in Charleston. However, just like there’s often unfortunate sadness hidden behind the wealth of hilariously weird shit that happens in the Sunshine State, Florida Man offer depth well beyond one’s initial expectations. Their sound is somehow both complex and immediately catchy, like if Botch tried to write a ’90s noise rock record, except that only tells part of the story—much like Floridian headlines. Tropical Depression reveals a surprising thematic gravity as well. Beyond the riffs, the shouting, and the bursts of buoyant energy lie a group railing against injustice, both external and internal. “Some of the lyrics follow loose fictional narratives and some are more real-life-based,” vocalist Jim O’Connor notes, “but even the made-up stuff is influenced by the stresses of working a blue-collar service industry job, especially in a tourist town like Charleston, so that found its way onto the album a lot. The stress, the classism, the griminess, the self-medicating, the endless repetition, it’s all in there, and we’ve all seen it make people snap.” Given their choice of name, if Florida Man do snap, it will make quite the headline. Let’s hope this delightful batch of noise is enough to keep the madness at bay.
