Beginning with a swell of vocals and strings, Desert Flower Interlude, the title track from NYC-born, LA-based artist Kiazi Halpern who releases music under the project Fleece Kawasaki kicks into high gear with guitars and drums performed by producer Layne Smith and drummer Luke O’Kelley respectively before sliding into an icy first first verse about self-destructive tendencies that opens with the line “there’s a leak inside my soul, but I’m trying now to grow,” backed by minor nine chords, layers of acoustic guitar, and slow decaying electric guitar triads that convey a gloomy east coast aesthetic before bursting into life with a bombastic chorus that imagines Los Angeles as a place of dreams where “if we go it’ll never rain or snow on our parade”
Between the verses there are lead guitar flourishes/producer Layne Smith of LA-based indie band Glass Beach and swells of strings done by producer/violist Jeremy Jones that convey a sense of optimism before transporting us back to our second icier verse, that is made larger than the first with the addition of crooning harmonies that are mimicked by the bass guitar and strings until we are brought back for another beachy chorus. At last we are brought to the contemplative bridge where the song which up until this point was driving at a breakneck speed between juxtapositions of East versus West, and negativity versus idealism slows down and we are enshrouded in layers of vocal harmonies that make this section perhaps the focal point of the entire track. “Desert Flower interlude, tell me that you feel it too, we’ll spend whole hours beneath the moon, and never leave” We are given to believe that the song has crescendoed, yet the music explodes back into life before we are given multiple solos, an acoustic guitar solo improvised by Kiazi, a ripping electric guitar solo performed by Smith and viola that provides counterpoints to the songs final refrain “we’re rocking, we’re rolling, the vibe is out of control here” before fading out on a final chorus.
On speaking about the creative process of writing the song Kiazi (Fleece Kawasaki) said “it was essentially written in five minutes, while going for a walk around my neighborhood. I’d actually meant to change the lyrics, the chorus was a place holder, but when I did a demo of the song after I wrote it I kinda realized it was all right there”
Written the day before a trip to Joshua Tree, the song is all about the reasons why one would leave home for somewhere new and sonically married Radiohead with an anime theme song.
Between the verses there are lead guitar flourishes/producer Layne Smith of LA-based indie band Glass Beach and swells of strings done by producer/violist Jeremy Jones that convey a sense of optimism before transporting us back to our second icier verse, that is made larger than the first with the addition of crooning harmonies that are mimicked by the bass guitar and strings until we are brought back for another beachy chorus. At last we are brought to the contemplative bridge where the song which up until this point was driving at a breakneck speed between juxtapositions of East versus West, and negativity versus idealism slows down and we are enshrouded in layers of vocal harmonies that make this section perhaps the focal point of the entire track. “Desert Flower interlude, tell me that you feel it too, we’ll spend whole hours beneath the moon, and never leave” We are given to believe that the song has crescendoed, yet the music explodes back into life before we are given multiple solos, an acoustic guitar solo improvised by Kiazi, a ripping electric guitar solo performed by Smith and viola that provides counterpoints to the songs final refrain “we’re rocking, we’re rolling, the vibe is out of control here” before fading out on a final chorus.
On speaking about the creative process of writing the song Kiazi (Fleece Kawasaki) said “it was essentially written in five minutes, while going for a walk around my neighborhood. I’d actually meant to change the lyrics, the chorus was a place holder, but when I did a demo of the song after I wrote it I kinda realized it was all right there”
Written the day before a trip to Joshua Tree, the song is all about the reasons why one would leave home for somewhere new and sonically married Radiohead with an anime theme song.