Flare Acoustic Arts League

Flare Acoustic Arts League — A.K.A. Flare (band) — were an experimental pop band[1] formed by guitarist Damian Costilla and singer LD Beghtol in New York in 1996 who made intense, darkly romantic, atmospheric songs deeply influenced by their love of The Smiths, The Magnetic Fields (with whom beghtol sometimes collaborated), Love, various 4AD bands and The Velvet Underground. Flare soon became a small chamber ensemble, augmenting Costilla's guitar work with other instrumentalists for recording/live shows. Costilla left Flare shortly after the release of their debut CD, Bottom (Tamper Evident, 1997). Beghtol continued to record and perform under the Flare moniker until 2001, when he renamed the band Flare Acoustic Arts League.

Flare Acoustic Arts League
Background information
Also known asFlare
OriginBushwick, Brooklyn
GenresOrchpop
Chamber punk
Experimental pop
Psychedelic
Years active1996–2012
LabelsTamper Evident, Mother West, Le Grand Magistery, Affairs of the Heart
MembersLD Beghtol + a cast of thousands...

Beghtol[2] then became Flare's principal songwriter/musical director, and expanded its dreamy minimalism to vastly orchestral arrangements that pitted horns and strings, heavily treated guitars and noise loops against florid melodies and esoteric subject matter.[3] The band's swansong, an ersatz "double EP" entitled Big Top/Encore, which included originals and covers of the swirling Psychedelic Furs song "Yes I Do" and "Morgantown" by the enigmatic Brooklynite Dorsey among its 10 tracks, was released by Affairs of the Heart in August 2011 in various digital and vinyl formats. Flare formally ceased trading in 2012 after the band’s first—and only—tour of Germany and Austria.

  • LD & Damian, circa 1997
    LD & Damian, circa 1997

Selected discography

CDs

  • Cut, (Affairs of the Heart, 2009)
  • Hung, (Le Grand Magistery, 2003)
  • Bottom, (Tamper Evident, 1997)

EPs

  • Big Top/Encore, double EP/CD/vinyl (Affairs of the Heart, 2011)
  • Definitive, (Mother West, 2001)
  • Circa, (Subliminal Violence, 2000)

Singles

  • "Hands of Fire”/"Last Train to Clarksville"/“Infamous Last Words," digital single (Affairs of the Heart, 2009)
  • "Back When You Wanted Me"/"Wish It Away," 7-inch vinyl (Unpopular Records, 2005)
  • "Celebrate the Misery”/“Another Bridge,” 7-inch vinyl (Mother West, 2000)

References
  1. "The Advocate". Here. 2003-05-27.
  2. "Erasing clouds interview: Ld beghtol".
  3. "Fluxionesque: New Flare!". 10 May 2009.
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