“I've never really finished anything before - it feels crazy,” says Ethan P. Flynn of his debut EP (and first fully formed body of work) Universal Deluge.
Universal Deluge marks a significant shift for Flynn and is the by-product of an intensely fruitful creative few years for him. His unique songwriting craft, ear for production and versatility has already seen him work with a whole host of familiar names including David Byrne, FKA Twigs, Vegyn and Black Country, New Road. Slowthai, who Flynn has collaborated with and supported on tour, has said of him: “Ethan’s someone who I consider to be as great as Bowie, I’m just waiting for the world to see it... he’s a legend in the making.”
Musically, Universal Deluge eschews typical genre labelling and convention. Created over a three-year period of fermentation, a lyrical theme began to emerge; “A lot of the songs, for whatever reason, have some kind of reference to a flood or rain or water,” he says. “I was just on that vibe. Then COVID happened and I thought back to the deluge and themes like that. There's different telling’s of the myth but in the Old Testament it's Noah and the entire world flooding and some people get to survive. I just thought that and COVID went well together, so I steered more into it. There's a definite overarching theme and I tried to make it like a puzzle that all fits together.” However, there’s not too much to be read into the aquatic nature of the album itself: “I talk about water a lot in these songs but it's important to say I don't know why,” Flynn says.
The whittled down 7 track-album finds this endlessly fecund, ever-changing and hard-to-please artist in love with the results. “I really like this record,” he says. “I felt proud finishing it. Every decision on this EP I made for a reason. I thought about everything and I can stand by it.”