Floex & Tom Hodge :: A Portrait Of John Doe (Mercury KX)

In one breath, this is a fascinating record that’s big in its production, sounds excellent, and has two respected players in the electronic-classical scene. In the next, it lacks in clarity and collaborative style. We don’t understand what this record is about and how much Hodge actually put into it—and that matters because blindfolded, I’d swear this was a Floex only record. Ultimately this is enjoyable material for fans and niche audiences alike.

We last wrote about Floex in 2013 as he was releasing a new EP, Gone. Gone picked up a national award in 2014 (Czech Republic) and the Samorost 3 video game soundtrack was his last published work in 2016. In the meantime, Floex has teamed up with composer Tom Hodge. Hodge has scored for many commercial brands, (Audi, Nike, Smirnoff). He also created a popular remix of Daft Punk’s “Aerodynamic,” released a popular cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” (performed by Sheku Kanneh-Mason who won a BAFTA for this), known around the electronic scene for his work with Max Cooper and has credits in scoring for film and TV.

Floex and Hodge met in Berlin kicking off their collaboration in 2016, with Hodge making a remix of the Samorost 3 soundtrack that same year. Fast forward to the middle of 2018 and we have A Portrait of John Doe, the official collaborative effort between the two. All of the scored material here is played by the Prague Symphony Orchestra.

It’s tempting to say that two heads are better than one, and a simple judgement I had when first sizing up this collaboration was that Hodge would tame Floex’s experimental sound. Perhaps by taming Floex, Hodge would push Floex’s sound into the commercial arena. Of course, it’s too simple to think like this. After all, Floex is a respected artist who has a fan-base and success because of his quirks, just not on the commercial level Hodge can claim too. Nonetheless, bringing both artists together will surely create a product that has two fellow visions. The negotiating of these visions would tame one another’s style in working together.

After listening to this album, that’s a wrong assumption. If there is a power structure between how these guys are creating music and the resulting style of the record, Floex is the more dominant. A Portrait of John Doe is distinctly Floex in sound. Floex has decisively won the idea war. Where Hodge and Max Cooper collaborated, strong boundaries were audibly drawn. You could clearly hear Hodge’s classical melodies alongside Cooper’s electronics. With Floex, it’s simply not obvious to me where Hodge is. Listen to the single “Wednesday (Is The New Friday)” and tell me it isn’t Floex.

Fine, there’s not strong boundaries in that track alone. But do play and flick through the majority of this album, and with the exception of a few moments where you can overtly hear Hodge’s classical tones (short segments in track 4, “John Doe Arise,” track 6, “Prelude I,” track 9, “Requiem”), it sounds to me a primarily Floex effort. I’ll take a stab and say that Hodge has more a behind the scenes role (in a recent interview he mentioned his focus on production), but I can’t define what this is. This means that if you’re in anyway a fan or familiar with Floex or Tom Hodge, approach the record with nuance. Don’t expect a distinct balance of creative input between both artists. A Portrait of John Doe is mostly one man’s vision with another man facilitating that.

However, the content here is solid. We hear Floex electronics, his typical melodies, and then short contributions from Hodge. It’s difficult to nail down the style here as Floex and Hodge cover a lot of musical ground. On the one hand this is certainly an electronic, classical record by genre, simply because there’s consistently electronic and orchestral elements. On the other hand, it feels like a lot of styles at once—too difficult to precisely zone in on.

The beginning of the record has muscle, and from tracks 1 to 4 there’s greater electronic influenced material with a percussive beat and orchestra surrounding it. These opening tracks are gripping. It’s essential you listen to these—they are powerful and show the brilliance in both composers gelling together. As the album eases into its middle section (tracks 5 to 10), the pace slows and becomes more orchestral and electronically ambient. Scottish producer, Hidden Orchestra, ends the album with a remix of “Wednesday (Is The New Friday),” which sounds more akin to the opening tracks.

A Portrait Of John Doe starts strongly, (tracks 1 to 4) and ponders around (5 to 10) for my liking too much. The higher tempo and living pulse of those first four tracks give energy to the album’s opening strength. Tracks 1 to 4 contend with more immediate musical styles (dance, EDM, traditional classical), as opposed to the electro-ambient-orchestral stuff you’ll hear toward the end.

A final sticking point is the record’s theme—its name, the vocal performances and lyrics associated. I have no concrete idea what this record means. Perhaps Floex & Hodge are alluding to an unknown identity which they are both creating? Their recent interview gave little insight into what John Doe precisely is or means – a loose concept at best. The album theme, vocal performance and lyrics simply don’t mean much of anything of substance. The vocal performances are certainly well performed, and sound great yet feel hollow. Notably the vocal parts are found toward the latter half of the record (tracks 5 to 10) and add to its weaker ending. Overall, the album theme, name and vocal/lyric contribution is tough to emotionally engage with.

In one breath, this is a fascinating record that’s big in its production, sounds excellent, and has two respected players in the electronic-classical scene. In the next, it lacks in clarity and collaborative style. We don’t understand what this record is about and how much Hodge actually put into it—and that matters because blindfolded, I’d swear this was a Floex only record. Ultimately this is enjoyable material for fans and niche audiences alike. It’s strange to say with Hodge’s name attached but beyond the Floex fan-base, I doubt A Portrait Of John Doe will catch on. Hopefully I’m proven wrong.

A Portrait Of John Doe is available on Mercury KX.