THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS
The strangest and most improbable things can germinate in Les Fleurs (du Mal)'s garden. Guitars cultivated in Punk, serpentine keyboards, literary influences, gothic shadows, spontaneous psychedelic ravings, a Pythonesque humor… All with a certain eighties smell. Are you feeling lost? Here you found a home.
No Happy Ends (2021)
No Happy Ends, the fifth album by Les Fleurs (du Mal) from Itatiba, brings together seven new songs, some already known to fans who follow the band's shows. It wasn't intentional, but endings ended up being the central theme of this work, foreshadowing the apocalyptic moment. Physical endings, like the departure of the late bassist Nilton Reganin in the middle of the project. The recordings took place between 2016 and 2017, but at the release in 2021 the topics covered were more current than ever.
DATASHEET
Title: No Happy Ends
Released: 12/21/2021
Recordings: independent
Les Fleurs du Mal:
Reginaldo Maciel - vocals, guitars and backing vocals
André Fujiwara - vocals, guitars, bass and backing vocals
Richard Kraus - vocals, keyboards and backing vocals
Nilton Raganin - bass
Rafael Presotto - drums
Repertoire:
1 - Rainy Beach (R. Kraus)
2 - Enochian Secrecy (Les Fleurs du Mal)
3 - Illusions (R. Kraus)
4 - For the Lady Dressed in Sun... (M. Machado and A. Fujiwara)
5 - Devil's Dog (R. Kraus)
6 - Plat the Game (A. Fujiwara)
Cover art: Andre Fujiwara
No happy ends is filled with verses that are sometimes somber, but appropriate for the moment that the world lived in this period.
The album opens with Rainy Beach, the day following the feast. The melancholyc realization that there is nothing left to die for. The music authored by Richard is a mandatory presence in the shows.
Enochian Secrecy is one of the two lyrics that bassist Nilton Reganin wrote for Les Fleurs (du Mal). Veteran of the Itatiba rock scene Nilton participated in the bands Barco Bêbado, Outros 500, Os Miseráveis and Rockphonia. The musician passed away in 2016, in the middle of the recordings of No Happy Ends. Enochian Secrecy is another hit among the band's fans.
Richard, Nilton, Rafael, Reginaldo and André - Les Fleurs (du Mal) 23/12/2016
The new song Illusions could be about false prophets, illusion traders or populist politicians, inevitable characters at the end of the world. Choose your opportunist of the moment and your favorite illusions. Are you willing to pay the price?
Among the poems from Mateus Machado experimented for Les Fleurs' second album, Pandora's Demo, For the lady dressed in sun ended up being forgotten. The song deviates slightly from the album's theme, with references to Neil Gaiman's Sandman and romantic daydreams.
With Devil's Dog we got back to the end theme. End of the world, of a relationship, of patience. Nonconformity in the face of a rupture can always result in explosions of violence. In apocalyptic times who never walked with the devil's dog? This is another one that is always present at the band's concerts.
Play the Game is a mea culpa in face of the end of times. The awareness that we all have our responsibility in building this end, we all play the game.
