TOTS Deep Dive — O’ Flynn

Anish Kumar
3 min readMar 16, 2021

Written by Anish Kumar

Ben Norris, better known as O ‘Flynn burst onto the scene with a tribal drum record ‘Tyrion’, which made its first waves after being dropped by none other than Four Tet at the beginning of one of his fabled livestreams. Heavily syncopated percussion forms the backbone of the track, ever so often cutting into silence without warning, showcasing a maturity within Norris’ early productions. Soon followed ‘Desmond’s Empire’, a melding of tribal chants, infectious accordion riffs and warm, rich chords. This track later became a focal point of O’ Flynn’s 2019 debut album, ‘Aletheia’. It is a sign of a great artist when they can find themselves so at peace with their prior work that a phenomenon like this occurs. Looking back through his discography, one can find a selection of EPs and singles all brandishing Norris’ characteristic warm chords and velvety vocal samples. Though reaching worldwide in his influences, no element of his productions seems forced and instead, sit perfectly over the heavy drums that have become synonymous with the UK club scene.

O ‘Flynn has been transparent about his ethos — hard, meticulous work pays off. Rather than drumming out a release a week, Norris takes months or even years at a time to perfect his records and it shows. One can make out vinyl crackles, distant chimes and foley peppered throughout his album, yet it doesn’t feel like a gimmick or a pretentious effort to simulate the past — rather, ear candy accentuating a number of authentic tracks aimed to get a dance-floor moving. And they do just that — following from his debut release, ‘Tru Dancing’ has proven its worth, melding together horns and electric guitar sampled from Tru Tones’ ‘Dancing’ with the forwards-rolling drum programming O’ Flynn is known for.

Norris’ NinjaTune debut has been supported by the likes of Bicep, and represented a fleeting visit to the harder sounds of house music. Acid lines pervade the A-side, ‘Pluto’s Beating Heart’, with a rhythm that seems to morph into something increasingly frantic each time it rediscovers the kick drum. Cerebral blips and bloops are scattered throughout ‘Eleven’ on the B-side of the release, establishing once again that O’ Flynn refuses to become a one-trick pony. Two years later, his fans are relieved of their suspenseful wait with another two-track release, the first embodying a call-back to his drum-focused roots and the second, a synth-driven experiment that most certainly pays off. In the same year of 2019, Norris’ magnum opus finally arrives in the form of his debut album.

Aletheia’ manages to showcase as many facets of O’ Flynn’s sound as is possible to achieve in a runtime of just under an hour. As a whole, the LP is geared towards headphone-listening rather than club speakers but it definitely harbours some gems for the dance-floor. ‘Mesablanca’, ‘Sunspear’ and the aforementioned singles ‘Tru Dancing’ and ‘Desmond’s Empire’ keep the momentum of the record high, making space for introspective moments in between them. My personal favourite on this record would have to be the beautifully-crafted ‘Painted Wolf’, a track that gives itself time to grow and climaxes with a soulful cacophony of airy vocal snippets, harps, keys, African spoken word, all led effortlessly by a stringed-instrument’s curious calls. Norris’ versatility is exemplified by down-tempo, harmony-laden cuts such as the title track, ‘Aletheia’, ‘Celestine’ and ‘Seamstress’.

I’ve been lucky enough to be swayed in a crowd led by the man himself, and hope to be there again soon. There is definitely something to be said for an artist who, in an age of radio singles and half-hearted rehashes, strives to produce records with artisan-status craftsmanship, somehow staying true to his sound while constantly covering new ground. It remains unknown how long fans will have to wait for another foray into O’ Flynn’s intricate soundscapes, but one thing is certain — it will be worth the wait.

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