Single of the week: Florist – Red Bird Pt. 2 (Morning) review

by Philip Moss

’19 tracks that culminate the decade-long journey of friendship and collaboration.’

Just twelve words accompany the announcement of Florist’s new, self titled album – due out on 29th July via Double Double Whammy – with which the first taster from it, Red Bird Pt. 2 (Morning), arrives.

For words are unnecessary when the song – clocking in at almost five and a half minutes – is as beautiful and perfect as this. And ‘culminate’ is absolutely the right word: carrying on from the final track (Red Bird) off the last ‘true’ Florist record – 2017’s If Blue Could Be Happiness – it flutters in against the gentle tangle of acoustic guitars and synth blips, as Emily Sprague sings of ‘a winter morning…’

More so than before, Sprague recalls her contemporary, Adrianne Lenker, and – bar Felix Walworth’s gentle production – the dancing intonation of the Catskills’ songwriter’s melodies on Red Bird Pt. 2 (Morning) could more than comfortably nest onto songs and instrumentals.

‘How does it seem to rearrange all the images in my mind…?’ she ponders after a deep breath a quarter into the song. Red Bird Pt. 2 (Morning) may be the first sample we hear from Florist, but we can’t wait to experience the other 18 reflections that Emily Sprague has sequenced into the group’s latest adventure.

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