Flow State is the debutstudio album by Australian singer-songwriter Tash Sultana, released on 31 August 2018, through their own record label, Lonely Lands Records. Sultana spent parts of 2017 and 2018 writing and recording the album, and was seen working with Matt Corby and Anderson Paak throughout their album sessions. Melbourne audio engineer Nikita Miltiadou was pictured in recording session images, and was a previous engineer on Sultana's prior EP and singles. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2018, Flow State won the ARIA Award for Best Blues and Roots Album.
Background and recording
Following the release of their extended playNotion in 2016, Sultana toured worldwide. In between tour dates, Sultana spent time in the studio to work on what was described to be their first album. In June 2017, in an interview with Fairfax, Sultana described their plans to release an album in April 2018. While the timing was pushed back, due to several health issues, and touring delays, Sultana gradually released sneak peeks of the album recording process via their social media channels. Those snapshots featured footage and imagery of them in the studio. In 2017, Sultana released the two singles. "Murder to the Mind" and "Mystik". On 21 June 2018, Sultana premiered the song "Salvation" live on triple j Breakfast with Ben and Liam, and announced the forthcoming release of their first studio album, Flow State. They have subsequently released two further singles, "Harvest Love" and "Free Mind". In a Gold Coast Bulletin interview in August 2018, Sultana commented "you hear all of the stories again and again and again from other musicians about alcohol and drugs and while it's fun to do for a bit, I don't know that is fun enough to try to sustain a life".
Artwork and title
In an April 2018 interview with online Spanish blog Indierocks, Sultana spoke about the influence behind the name Flow State and said "it's the term to refer to when you access a part of your mind known as your being, and you find something you are passionate about." In Sultana's social media, they make reference to Ben Lopez, and Pat Fox as being responsible for the creation of the art for the single "Salvation”, with Fox being responsible for the album art creation.
Critical reception
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 76, based on 4 reviews, an indication of "generally favorable reviews". Ryan Bray of Consequence of Sound gave the album a B+, commenting "This is great pop music with an edge, a record full of good vibes and bad attitude, that somehow manages to work everything out splendidly." Maura Johnston of Rolling Stone awarded the album four of five stars, stating that "After years of being a festival and YouTube sensation, Sultana's thrown down the gauntlet forcefully." For Beat Magazine, Nathan Gunn commented "This record represents a quantum leap -- a major milestone in Sultana's seemingly short career. But don't underestimate her. This is just the beginning." and appointed the album a rating of 9/10 Of Flow State, AllMusic's Mark Deming wrote "Sultana could stand to edit herself a bit better, but Flow State is unquestionably the work of a first-rate talent with potential, and if anyone is going to teach young women about the innate coolness of the guitar, she seems like just the person to do it.", giving the album 3.5 of 5 stars, or 70%. Mikey Cahill of the Herald Sun rated the album four of five stars, commenting "I thought she’d boxed herself in on the eager Jungle EP. Here she shows us she can go toe-to-toe with Hendrix, Erykah Badu, India. Arie and plenty more. She punches. She reigns." In a more critical review, Rachel Aroesti of The Guardian awarded Flow State 3 of 5 stars, commenting "Lacking any particularly memorable melodies, it is expansive and mellow, recalling 90s singer-songwriter fare with added R&B flavours, spacey instrumentation and psychedelic guitar wigouts.".
Release and promotion
On 21 June 2018, Sultana announced Flow State was available for pre-order, and was confirmed to be released on 31 August 2018. The album was announced to be released through Sultana's own record label Lonely Lands Records, an imprint of Sony Music Australia, and through Mom+Pop Music in the US.
Singles
In 2017, Sultana released "Murder to the Mind" and "Mystik", which have both been certified gold in Australia in 2018. In June 2018, Sultana released the album's official lead single, "Salvation". On 13 July 2018, Sultana released the single "Harvest Love", followed by "Free Mind" on 17 August 2018.
Music videos
On 13 July, Sultana released a 'live lounge' recording of "Harvest Love". As of August 2018, the "Harvest Love" live lounge recording has over 300,000 views on YouTube. Sultana released a lyric video for "Free Mind" on 17 August 2018. On 12 September 2018, Sultana released the official music video for "Free Mind" featuring footage from Sultana's tour and travelling, filmed and edited by Dara Munnis, and directed by Munnis and Sultana.
