save room

for dessert
by
le flex

La Flexs Save Room For Dessert is an unabashedly

joyful marriage between 80s synthpop and 90s R&B
and its been on heavy rotation since I listened.
-SHAMIM HOSSAIN
Every once in awhile, an artist will think to blend two styles of music together and create
a truly interesting work. In Save Room For Dessert, La Flex manages to do just that by
putting Mid-90s Soul and 80s synthpop together. Though a very short release at only 5
songs, this album never rang a dull note and kept me enthralled throughout. Lets dive
right in.

The opener is Ill Never Find A Better Love, which starts laying the foundation for what
is La Flexs signature sound throughout the rest of this album. The track is all synths,
as a fat bass line plays throughout while there are other pad synth sounds which com-
pose the melody of the track, making it so that the track is just a cacophony of synths. I
usually hate that fat synth sound, but La Flex pulls it off very well throughout the track,
never making it too harsh and letting it work with all of the other instrumentation, as a
foundation as opposed to a lead element of the track. The vocals are much less of a croon
than he has in other tracks and I find it works well with the music here, as the subtlety of
the croon fits in with the song; this song seems to be much more about the music than
the vocals.
On The Weekend plays much more into the tra-
ditional mid-90s R&B vocals, and La Flex explores a
lot of places vocally on this track that he didnt in
the opener. Whereas Ill Never Find A Better Love
was about the music more than the vocals, On The
Weekend is much more vocal-centric. The music
is understated, simply using a loop of a melody
for the verse and a different looped melody for
the hook. All the dynamism that was present in
Ill Never Find A Better Love is present in On the
Weekend as well, but it lies in the vocals. While
there are parts of this song that he belts out, there
are similarly parts where hes restrained, and this
range helps create a very interesting vocal arrange-
ment.
Lovers is an interesting track because of how well
La Flex manages to get the instrumental and the
vocal working together. The effect he puts on his
vocals transforms it into an extension of the music
and its hard to tell which is which. Its not to say
that the vocals and the music sound similar, but
rather the two contrasting textures (the extrava-
gance of the vocals and the subtlety of the music)
complement each other well. When listening to this
song, I realized that La Flexs real gift lies in his ar-
rangement and that he makes the vocals and music
seem inseparable and indistinguishable, as if you
could not have one without the other.
This Is Love is what I find to be the most accessi-
ble track on the album. I thought the vocal melody
on the hook was extremely catchy but also interest-
ing because, in the most subtlest of ways, its just a
little off-beat.
The vocals are silky smooth on this and this is the
only track on the album where they play through-
out. On every other song, there is a musical re-
prieve, but the vocals are sung throughout the
entire track here and in a variety of different mel-
odies. I also find this the most dance-friendly song
on the album, which is saying something because
the rest of the album is very danceable. The drums
play an extremely catchy rhythm and the vocals
take a complementary backseat that make for an
extremely luxurious listening experience.
When I Saw Your Face is La Flex going full 80s
power ballad and I love every second of it. This
track isnt an innovative or even new take on the it,
but it is such a perfect representation of what the
80s power ballad is that I think La Flex is actually a
time traveller. Its actually a poignant and beautiful
piece. This is the most stripped down his vocals are
on the entire album and it lets his voice truly shine.
The arrangement isnt groundbreaking, with the
traditional slowly played synth lines and belted out
vocals, but it is effective. While La Flex injects a fair
amount of irony into his persona, this track exudes
a very genuine feeling, which is very hard to pull
off.
La Flexs Save Room For Dessert is an unabashedly
joyful marriage between 80s synthpop and 90s
R&B and its been on heavy rotation since I listened.
Check it out at https://leflex.bandcamp.com/album/
save-room-for-dessert. Please make sure to check
back on Cultureless for more great albums and
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