SIMEON FLICK: FYI

Simeon Flick is a force of nature in the San Diego music scene. I’ve been lucky enough to review two of his classical disks for the San Diego Troubadour, disks in which Flick displayed his mastery of the guitar and sensitivity to the classical repertoire he chose for recording.

Flick also writes, records, and performs popular music. He has a new offering—FYI—one that confirms this musician has the pulse of what is hip, what is happening, and what music should be right now.

The songs in this collection are BIG. If they were land masses, they would equal empires, the expanse of the Louisiana Purchase; some even approach the magnitude of continents. If they were planets, they would be the equals of Saturn and Jupiter. These tunes have guitars that scream and eat heavy metal for breakfast, guitars that plumb the depths of the oceans and take flight to the heights of our stars. The bass could level Tokyo better than Godzilla on a meth-fueled bender. And all these are backed up by apocalyptic drums that bow down to the Crimson King.

Flick sings at full throttle, matching the hugeness of the musical ensemble. Please don’t think of these compositions as heavy metal, because they aren’t. One song, “Mastery,” draws on hip hop; the same can be said of the song “G.O.A.T.” “Over the Top” has an interesting tattoo played on the drums, winding up with a total rock ‘n’ roll riff as its backbone while it maintains a joyously sinister sound throughout.

Many of the others match the pop music masters of the ages, from Fripp to Fagan and Becker. Flick has obviously deeply studied the classical cannon. After a listen to FYI, it’s obvious that he’s spent as much time being a student of Rundgren as he has with Rachmaninoff, as much time studying soul and funk as he has César Franck. This is among the best pop disks that I have had the privilege of listening to this year.