The young generation is no longer unfamiliar with the name The Flob in the Vietnamese indie rock scene. Starting as a student rock band and progressing steadily, The Flob has asserted themselves in a more folk metal vein. While the tracks like “Sống Sai” were still peaking in people’s ears, the band dropped a full-length release this December – “TỐI THƯỢNG,” cementing their spot in the Vietnamese music Olympus.
Tradition meets modern rock in a vision both inventive and contested
“Tôi Thượng” is a continuation of the debut album released at the end of last year. With this one, The Flob is not only stopping at the pure rock sound as before, but adding some new and previously hinted elements. From metal riffs and breakdowns to electronic music combined with Vietnamese folk. It seems like this will now become a recognizable feature of The Flob, and not just at their annual music shows.
According to the official statement, “Tôi Thượng” uses traditional instruments such as the zither, flute, two-stringed fiddle, moon lute… accompanied by Southern melodies of cải lương and ca trù, giving the sound image a rich identity. “Tôi Thượng” is welcomed by the audience as a sophisticated musical product that creates a sense of order in chaos when collaborating with many different musical personalities (Rhymastic, Tài Smile, Phùng Khánh Linh) to create a whole that seems out of phase but is actually quite tight.
The integration of folk material into modern music, which has a long tradition in Vietnam, is no longer a strange thing. Many musicians have successfully incorporated folk songs, proverbs, or folk melodies into their works of art. The Flob has succeeded in letting the quintessence of folk truly flourish in their music production, through all of its elements, even in the bustling “young” music style.
“Tôi Thượng” clearly has the orientation to renew Vietnamese rock music by exploiting materials from national identity. The Flob has previously mixed metal with folk colors and typical folk tales through their debut products, such as “Xì Dzách” and “232 Tuổi.” The flute, moon lute, or vọng cổ appear one after another to create rich effects, bringing a “heroic” feeling. Powerful vocals and harmony of Đại Khải Hoàn, Rhymastic, Tài Smile, and Phùng Khánh Linh make the album more diverse in tone. From this perspective, The Flob sends out a clear statement: preserving the quintessence of national music and making young audiences approach that beauty through rock.
However, it should be noted that the integration of many folk materials also makes listeners with professional experience in art question the sophistication and depth in “Tối Thượng.” The album cannot avoid comments that this product is somewhat “hasty”, “lacks consistency in depth of meaning”, or even “mid” and “cringe” and is following the trend of commercialized music.
Strong ideas and striking highlights, though the album’s flow occasionally shifts in tone
Combining folk songs into rock, which is already a big challenge when many songs in the album sometimes only stop at the surface level of effects. Such as the opening part of “Tôi Thượng”, which is almost considered the core of the whole album. Presented with melodies that combine folk songs with relatively predictable loops, the following songs lack consistency in depth. The Southern scales, the zither, vọng cổ, or the water drum dance sections are arranged ornately and theatrically, but do not leave enough silence for the listener to feel the authentic, simple breath of folk songs. Therefore, “Tôi Thượng” can easily be perceived as a decorative layer of spices. Eye-catching but not really penetrating the spirit of the “object” the group is pursuing.
“Đại Khải Hoàn” has a unique opening with strong lyrics, with a typical example of the tension between historical inspiration and ostentatious tendency. Inspired by the context of the Tran Dynasty, it can be inferred that the “Khải Hoàn” successfully counterattacked three times to regain Thang Long with the perspective of heroic spirit and expressing the strong national spirit of the leader. This can be considered the song that best expresses the spirit when harmonizing new musical materials with few words, but all has many profound implications for a large story as a whole.
“Final Form,” “Sống Như Z” and “Thì Vui Biết Mấy” are the collaborations with guest artists with different styles, creating bold and surprising combinations. However, this diversity also unintentionally diluted the overall theme of the album when The Flob had to follow the distinctive sound of each artist, while the previous album tried very hard to gather many folk materials from North to South into one main body. The transitions from strong rock to gentle ballad, from electronic instruments to traditional folk songs, although rich in exploration, have not created a consistent compass, making the folk materials become disjointed, lacking coherent harmony.
Bold experiments, yet a missing through-line weakens the cohesion
It can be said that “Tôi Thượng” is an album with great ambition. The Flob proactively brings traditional culture into modern music to create depth and highlights. This is an encouraging step in the trend of integrating folk culture into “youth’s music”. As analyzed above, the album “Tôi Thượng” sometimes feels like it is covered with folk sounds, but still does not convey them deeply. In short, although “Tôi Thượng” marks creative courage, listeners have every reason to question: the folk sounds here are more decorative than deep and authentic.
However, we must acknowledge The Flob‘s creative courage to bring a valuable musical experience like this album. “Tôi Thượng” is like a year-end music party that The Flob has carefully prepared with a variety of singles. Ignoring the academic aspect, in general, The Flob does a very good job in bringing heavy sounds and folk songs to the masses through the quality of the arrangements and mixing. In “Tôi Thượng”, whether it is breakbeat or rock or any other genre, the general audience can still easily accept and enjoy it without being too picky.
Finally, The Flob and the production team have truly marked their creative journey with this album. With an open spirit, the band has played a significant role in the effort to experiment, innovate, and convey national character into the riffs that are considered heavy in the music genre they pursue.
Rating: 8/10
