Album Review: Florist - The Birds Outside Sang
By Devon Hannan, Contributor
[Double Double Whammy, 2016]
Rating: 4.5/5
Key Tracks: "Thank You," "The Birds Outside Sang," "Only A Prayer Nothing More"
Florist is an up-and-coming indie folk band who has recently released its debut album, The Birds Outside Sang. Written by frontwoman Emily Sprague, the lyrics take the audience on a journey of pain, love, and just about everything in between.
The Birds Outside Sang starts on entirely intrapersonal level with “Dark Light,” hinting at an eventful story about Sprague’s physical state after a horrific bike accident that left her unable to to play music for quite some time. Many of the tracks reference this incident, but furthermore, all of them reflect upon emotion and realization with intricate detail. “Thank You,” a spoken word piece, is arguably the most memorable, hard hitting song on the album.
While it inflicts depressive expression, primarily in “1914,” The Birds Outside Sang counteracts it with a sense of strength and liberation. Comparable to Frankie Cosmos, the aura resembles suffocation inside of a plastic garbage bag. As the album chronologically progresses, a sense of relief passes over as if someone cut the drawstrings with a rusty pair of scissors. The ability to breathe again is restored with tracks such as “Cold Lakes Quiet Dreams” and “Only A Prayer Nothing More.”
The instrumentation on the album complements the vocals effortlessly. Airy guitar supports the gentle lyrics, and light, simple distortion enhances sensations of struggle and recovery. Songs such as “The Birds Outside Sang” are backed by stronger instrumentation, in this case a keyboard.
While The Birds Outside Sang doesn’t introduce anything dramatically new, its freshness and clarity make it a fantastic debut LP. Sprague’s bona fide honesty and straightforwardness defines the album. The Birds Outside Sang is a near perfect example that “the naked truth is better than a well dressed lie.”
