Ironically, I ended up playing in clubs a lot after that, when it started to take off. The Flume stuff was just a bit of fun, a creative outlet for me to make stuff that wasn't for the club. “I had another project at the time called What So Not, which was more club stuff, and that was my main focus. “It was quite a shock as it was really just my side project,” he says. Streten is surprised by how much his debut album blew up when it was released in 2012. It wasn’t until a couple months after that first gig that he won a demo contest, got signed by Future Classic, and left his job to focus entirely on what soon became an incredibly successful career. From that moment, I started to look at it differently-I always thought that I was okay at doing music and I had fun doing it, but I never really thought I could actually make a career out of it.” Real name Harley Streten, the producer was still living at home in Manly and waiting tables at Hard Rock Cafe. I remember it being so flooring and surreal. After the show, I was on the way out and I met someone on the stairwell who was a fan and we just had a chat. With that kind of control over his songs and performers, Flume could easily evolve into a sought-after producer.“I had my first fan interaction after my first gig,” Flume tells Apple Music, recalling his first performance in August 2011. I've got what you need"- shiver so that it sounds like she's slowly dissolving into tears. On "What You Need", Streten makes a claim- "Been waiting to love you/. Sinuous opener "Sintra" chops up vocals like James Blake's "CMYK", a foil for the calming, sweet "Star Eyes", which closes the album with a dream sequence made up of screwed bits of speech. Preceding track "Holdin' On" juxtaposes an old-soul male vocal sample and gospel echoes ("Mama, I love you!" "Yes I do!") with muffled keyboard stabs and serious swing for an effect that recalls Jamie xx's Gil Scott-Heron remixes. Now and then, Streten strikes an unusually potent streak: On "Left Alone", a chorus persists throughout as if dogging guest Chet Faker's slurred pleas for solitude. Sometimes, neither the vocals nor backing can save the show: "On Top" features uninspired rapping from New York MC T.Shirt ("The night's forever young/ It's us that gets old") that falls flat over offbeat thuds and simulated siren wails. On "Insane", Streten distorts Australian singer Moon Holiday's lovely but affectless voice into a melodic foil to his throbbing builds and drops. Her featherlight refrain "Hush now, you're standing on a landmine" is the centerpiece around which snares skitter and arpeggios twinkle, her voice soaring as Streten drops a judicious beat into the bridge. On "Sleepless", singer/model Jezzabell Doran is Streten's Jessie Ware, though he gives George Maple more of the spotlight on "Bring You Down". Those features mask the fact that most of his songs are structured around samey, distracting background swoops that introduce climactic moments. It's a little long on instrumental filler ("Space Cadet", "Warm Thoughts", "Ezra"), highlighting the fact that at this point in his career, samples and singers are Streten's most effective asset.
Streten explores his sonic palette with varying degrees of success on Flume. While his approach to warped sound owes much to Dilla, Flume's aesthetic can be compared to SBTRKT's integration of R&B's bedside intimacy with distant beats and silky voiced female singers. He listens to J Dilla and Flying Lotus, started tinkering with production when he was barely a teenager, and still makes music in his parents' basement. He doesn't come off as a firestarter, though, or even all that different from other young electronic producers.
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