Chen and the Hoax - Flagg Staff

A few years back when I was in my early teens, I was planning on saving up good money for a quality microphone. This was to go towards the recording of my world-class Franz Ferdinand cover album (which unfortunately never surfaced). Had I known that the USB mic that my Mum brought back one day from the Pound shop (or to our American readers, the 1 dollar (?) store) would have sufficed, I’d have taken up my chillwave project there and then. Chen and the Hoax make delightful music, with ‘Flagg Staff’ of a particularly willing nature, showing off shifting guitar structures that gradually evolve as the track progresses. The vocals, however, must have been recorded on a minimal budget. Yet it remains a fine specimen. A lesson to all fledging musicians: Keep the cash firmly in your pockets.