Flare Acoustic Arts League

Flare Acoustic Arts League
Background information
Also known as	Flare
Origin	Bushwick, Brooklyn
Genres	Orchpop Chamber Punk Experimental Pop Psychedelic
Years active	1996 to the present (1996–2001 as Flare)
Labels	Tamper Evident, Mother West, Le Grand Magistery, Affairs of the Heart
Associated acts	moth wranglers, The Magnetic Fields, LD & the New Criticism
Members
LD Beghtol + a cast of thousands...

Flare Acoustic Arts League — a.k.a. Flare (band) — is an experimental pop band formed by guitarist Damian Costilla and singer LD Beghtol in New York in 1996.

History

Beghtol and Costilla met at a West Village gay bar in 1996, and soon co-authored a body of intense, darkly romantic, atmospheric songs deeply influenced by their love of The Smiths, The Magnetic Fields, Love, 4AD bands and The Velvet Underground. Almost immediately the duo began performing in intimate clubs and gallery spaces in New York, eventually attracting the attention of Stephin Merritt and Gail O'Hara — both of whom were then music writers for Time Out New York and who became early supporters of the band.

Flare soon became a small chamber ensemble, augmenting Costilla's elegant, spare guitar work with Ernest Adzentoivich's contrabass, plus a crew of various drummers/percussionists and string players, along with long-time collaborator Charles Newman of Mother West Studios. Costilla left Flare shortly after the release of their debut CD, Bottom (Tamper Evident, 1997). Beghtol, with Newman and a loose confederacy of other classically trained musicians, continued to record and perform under the Flare moniker until 2001, when he renamed the band Flare Acoustic Arts League to differentiate his work from that of DJ Flare (Ken Ishii) and other similarly named artists. Currently Beghtol is Flare's principal songwriter/musical director, though he often shares lead-vocal duties with guest vocalists, notable Jon DeRosa and Dana Kletter. Over the past decade, Flare has expanded its sound from a dreamy minimalism with subtle electronic touches — recalling From the Hip-era Section 25 — to vastly orchestral arrangements that pit acoustic horns and strings, heavily treated guitars and noise loops against Beghtol's florid melodies and esoteric subject matter.

In 2010 three Flare instrumentals were used in the MTV show My Life as Liz.

An ersatz "double EP" entitled Big Top/Encore, which includes originals and covers of the swirling Psychedelic Furs song "Yes I Do" and "Morgantown" by the enigmatic Brooklynite Dorsey among its 10 tracks, will be released by Affairs of the Heart in August 2011 in various digital and vinyl formats. Guest musicians include cellist Julia Kent, keyboardist Kendrick Strauch (formerly of the Harlem Shakes), and drummer Sam Lazzara of the New York dreampop duo, The Leader; overall the album has a heavier glam-inflected guitar- and keyboard-based sound and a notable absence of ukuleles.

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  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)