Music Review: Emily Alone by Florist

Indie Folk Goes Back to Basics

By Ryan Brunt

Courtesy of Bandcamp and Emily Sprague

Artistic consistency can be a double-edged sword; while we often applaud artists who can deliver quality albums time and time again, and rightly so, when does consistency turn into repetition?  When artists have style and approach that they stick to album after album, it can be difficult to keep the songs interesting and engaging. Florist has no such difficulties on their latest full length, Emily Alone.  Although they don’t wander far from what made their first two albums so enjoyable, they still elevate their songwriting in meaningful ways.

Florist has made their name with a gentle and carefully constructed brand of indie-folk, and Emily Alone certainly continues in the same vein.  But while previous efforts included occasional percussion or electronic flourishes, Emily Alone, living up to its title, strips these elements away almost entirely, leaving just vocalist Emily Sprague and quiet guitars.  But this limited palette of sounds allows the lyrics and songwriting to step to the forefront, and that is were Florist shows the most development.  

The most notable example is one of the album’s singles, “Celebration.” The song opens with fingerpicked guitars, gentle strings, and spoken monologue from Sprague.  That isn’t anything new for Florist- their discography has a few scattered examples of this, but they normally function as standalone pieces. On “Celebration,” though, Florist takes things a step further, effortlessly transitioning from the monologue into an almost elemental exploration of loss.  And just when you think the song is done, the band shifts into an almost-upbeat coda that brings the song home. This kind of structural flexibility feels like new territory for the band, and it gives their sound new depth. 
 
The focus that “Celebration” places on natural imagery is one of the album’s running motifs.  And although, like many things about this project, it is something that has appeared in the band has explored in their earlier releases, it feels more fully realized here.  “Rain Bloom,” with its quiet refrain of “Mother bird/floral earth,” has everything that makes Florist’s first albums so compelling, but is presented in such a way that it feels like a fresh development on the band’s earlier work.  Even though the album doesn’t constitute a wild stylistic shift for the band, it still represents their continued artistic maturation; it’s one of the most thoughtful albums of the summer, and is definitely worth checking out.