If You Have Ever Been Pushed Away For Just Being Too Much, Dorian Electra’s ‘Flamboyant’ Is For You
On the radar since their 2016 single Clitopia, Dorian Electra has been releasing numerous bangers stemming from straight-up pop, to his more recent style of bubblegum bass inspired dance anthems; eventually coagulating into the release of Electra’s first full body of work, Flamboyant. Let’s begin discussing the record with a preface: what is flamboyancy exactly?
Flamboyant: /flamˈbɔɪənt/ – adjective. (of a person or their behaviour) tending to attract attention because of their exuberance, confidence, and stylishness. (of Architecture) denoting a style of French Gothic architecture noted for it’s fine detailing, pointed decoration, wavy flame-like tracery and ornate styling.
This term, however, has strong ties with the policing of queer groups in later stages of history, and still today flamboyancy is seen as ostentatious, obnoxious, self aggrandising and hedonistic. All of which Electra addresses head on, no holds barred with each song, every once in a while being shifted into an entirely different dimension just for the hell of it. Conceptually the album is funny and clever, with songs such as Guyliner, Daddy Like, and Career Boy covering topics from wearing make up for the shock factor, being a sugar daddy who dotes on his sugar baby until his dying day, and even to a business mogul who’s only validation comes from his office job.
However, look past the comedic tropes and you’ll find a very well thought out album with tight, vivid and fragrant production, rich with mordant songwriting, and complex yet catchy melodies and hooks. This is still the case with some of Electra’s more overtly obnoxious tracks such as fReAkY 4 Life, or even Musical Genius, a cacophony of industrial effects, growling synths, and sucker punch bass lines, where Electra boasts about his musical expertise, almost foreshadowing a global takeover. The song sounds as if someone haphazardly spliced Lady Gaga and Lil Wayne together and gave the screaming hybrid bath salts, and I’m actually here for it.
Another track that does this well is the track Emasculate – arguably the best song on the record. It’s gritty, hard hitting, oversaturated with effects and layered with stock textures that are just *chef ’s kiss* – such a good experimental track about having the male energy, or patriarchal power stripped willingly off of oneself to feel liberated.
Such complicated themes about gender politics are in fact the meat of this album, and this is primarily shown by Electra’s lyrics exploring the many facets of what it means to be a modern day queer man. For example in the songs Adam and Steve which discusses the stigma of queer sexual expression as regards to the religious gaze, or the album’s title track Flamboyant, a sensual song dedicated to self expression, and self affirmation towards the gaudy, the frivolous, dandy like lifestyle of someone with zero tolerance for subtly. Overall they are songs most needed, and obviously made for, any marginalised group pushed away for being too different and too much.
As shown above Electra can portray many of his ideas as a satirical interpretation of gender politics in our modern culture without the need of it being an in-depth analysis – rather a flamboyant expose. But there are softer sides to the record that actually discuss the fragility of masculinity, and how toxic that is emotionally to oneself, such as in the song Man to Man, a track about man on man aggression or violence, but portrayed almost like a discussion between men about opening up, being more vulnerable, shrouded in the metaphor of taking it out back for a scuffle in the street lights outside of a bar.
Cleverly, throughout the album Electra also manipulates his voice in melodramatic ways to both portray the main concept of the album, but also to make an interesting point about gender fluidity. There is an androgynous tonality to their voice, shifting from high breathy dramatic vocals, to exaggerated low bellowing notes – adding to the profile of the character Electra has conceptualised for this album. Sure, often-times the messaging from the songs aren’t very hip, or cool, in the scenes that Electra is so ostentatious with his production of the album, that they forfeit any leeway into chart stardom, if not for sheer the shock factor of Flamboyant. It almost stands out as just a freak-show piece of art, like a meme materialised sonically. However, the album is an amazingly inverted, complex and hyper-neon piece of satirical art that is due far more credit than it has currently acclaimed.
By David Lazarevic
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