Australian electronic duo Flight Facilities made the trip across the Pacific pond to Santa Ana’s The Observatory last Friday night, February 27, as part of their ongoing, headlining world tour. Formed in Sydney in 2009, Hugo Gruzman and James “Jimmy” Lyell began their foray into the electro scene by mixing tracks of other electro artists in their home country, collaborating with the likes of Bag Raiders and Sneaky Sound System. Fast-forward six years and Flight Facilities has more Facebook likes (currently over 224k) than those two acts combined.
Flight Facilities rose to popularity in 2010 with the release of their first original track, “Crave You“, which was picked up by popular Australian radio station Triple J and went on to become a breakout hit in the States. Jimmy and Hugo are known for their sparseness, releasing just one or two singles a year leading up to the surprising drop of their debut album, Down to Earth, in October 2014. Though somewhat familiar (four of their eight singles to date, including “Crave You”, made the cut), the album reflects Gruzman and Lyell’s philosophy: Why not make every song a single? On the making of the album, Hugo and Jimmy commented, “We do live in a singles-based culture, so if you do an album, you have to do it right”. Not one of the 13 tracks on the album could be considered filler, with If you’re up for a challenge, try not to move your body to the beat of the recent LP’s infectious title track, “Down to Earth”. Flight Facilities have also proven their versatility with their slow-burning version of Claude Debussy’s classical piano composition “Clair de Lune“, a 7-minute cinematic odyssey that took a whole year to produce.
