Here in blog land, we love a good mystery, whether that’s cracking the code behind an artist’s vague lyrics, applying our guesstimates to obscure instrumentation, or, as is the case with I AM FLAMES, pondering the real identity behind a new anonymous project. We’re given absolutely no help this time around concerning details about this mysterious newcomer, but what we can ascertain is that I AM FLAMES is an individual singer-songwriter-producer, most likely male and probably based in London. Debut single ‘Take Me High’ plays a heavy empahsis on a wondrous male-female harmony and it’s their inter-melting voices that is the first thing to catch your ear as their romantic tones fall and rise over a babbling brook of soft guitar frets. Whoever I AM FLAMES is, he knows how to imbue pensive emotion into his music, with the addition of pop piano arrangements, a pertinent backbeat, layered vocals, shimmering synths, plus perfectly timed and wholly atmospheric violins. That rich instrumentation with those melodious vocals seem to be bursting with life, rushing towards the end, one that isn’t a showy crescendo, but gracefully bows out. - HT