Comprised of Blue Falcon’s and Filthy Funk‘s John Viviani, a.k.a. Vivitron and Upward Groove‘s Eli Flynn, a.k.a. Flynnstone, the Rochester, NY-based indie electro pop duo The Able Bodies have largely been inspired by the birth of John’s daughter Mariana (who’s now a year-old). With less time than usual to devote to music and music production, Viviani found himself simply focusing on the joy of making music, and in sparse moments, songs had begun to form. Viviani then enlisted his friend and colleague Eli Flynn to contribute his vocals to a new music project, influenced by the duo’s mutual love of synth pop, funk, hip-hop, New Wave and jazz, all of which both members have written and recorded in, as well as LCD Soundsystem, Future Islands, Daft Punk, Herbie Hancock and others while thematically met to be uplifting and get the listener to move their ass.
“Flicker,” the duo’s latest single is a breezy, retro-futuristic synth funk jam featuring a production consisting of shimmering arpeggio synths, a sinuous bass line and a rousingly crowd pleasing hook paired with a propulsive groove — and while being slickly produced and dance floor ready, the duo’s sound is reminiscent of Chromeo and Tuxedo and the 80s synth funk and synth pop that influenced them. In fact, if it wasn’t for the slick production sheen, you might think that the single was released in 1983 – 1987 or so.
The recently released video stars The Able Bodies’ Eli Flynn and John Viviani, along with Deena Viviani and Karen Rupp-Hardenbrook in 80s workout video influenced visuals with the song’s lyrics plastered on the screen — and it’s done in a way to encourage the viewer to get up and move their ass and do something already.
