Fluttr Effect is a happy accident, the intersection of the right people and the right sounds at the right time. The band started in 2002 as a four-piece called Fluttr with Troy Kidwell on guitar and vocals, Jason Marchionna on drums, Vessela Stoyanova on MIDI marimba, and Valerie Thompson on electric cello. A few months later, Kara Trott saw the group opening for Rasputina and knew she wanted in. With their new lead singer, Fluttr prepared to take off.
The band developed a loyal fan base playing rock clubs, colleges, benefits, art centers, and festivals. In 2004, Fluttr competed in the Emergenza Music Festival. They represented the Northeast at the National Finals at the Avalon, met some great bands from around the country and picked up some great new fans too. Even better, they won - Fluttr performed as the U.S. finalist in front of a crowd of 30,000 at the Taubertal Music Festival in Germany.
Later that same year, Fluttr's name change came about. In the fall of 2004 the band released their first full-length cd, Trithemis Festiva, and became Fluttr Effect. For the next year plus, the band toured unceasingly in the U.S. and Canada, further developing their audience and their particular brand of "thinkrock" - smart, haunting, unrelenting rock music.
In February 2006, the girls released Swallows and Sparrows as the Fluttr Effect Trio. This acoustic wing of the band exposes the fragile underlayers of their songs through marimba, cello and vocals. The EP features instrumental compositions alongside fresh arrangements of songs from Trithemis Festiva and Marking Time.
CMEAS selected Fluttr Effect as one of three acts from a worldwide pool of applicants for a two-week tour of England in the spring of 2006. The van was crowded, the bacon was different, and the cars all drove on the wrong side of the street; but the audiences were responsive, the hosts were generous, and the shows were rocking. The band will invade again in May and June 2007, returning to East Anglia and beyond, including a performance at the Glasgow Music Festival. Visit the live page for details as they become available.
Marking Time, Fluttr Effect's second full-length cd released in fall 2006, is a tapestry, a finely woven album of complex, playful instrumentation and insistent vocals. Marking Time is a truly independent undertaking: a cd ushered into the world not just by Fluttr Effect's musical talents. In addition to composing and performing the tracks, the band raised funds, engineered, and designed the project. Check the live page for an ever-growing list of shows and the music page for samples of new tunes.
