REVIEW: Flowers - Do What You Want To, It's What You Should Do

As a practice, I try to avoid hyperbole.  I write posts about music quite frequently, and I'd have no credibility if I proclaimed every guitarist or vocalist to be the best I've heard, or every album to be at the top of my list for the year.  So it is with studied care that I write that if I were to hear an angel's voice, I would expect it to sound like Rachel Kenedy of  London trio Flowers.  I've had the feeling before  -- no, not delusions of speaking with angels, but rather of angelic voices -- via Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins.  But unlike the venerable Scot, Kenedy's songs on their debut album,  Do What You Want To, It's What You Should Do, are teamed with the indie pop sounds of her bandmates Sam Ayers and Jordan (sorry, I don't have Jordan's surname).  While the sound isn't inventive, it is a well executed brand of guitar pop that many indie fans, including me, seek out.  And the pairing of Kenedy's vocals and the, to be a bit lazy, C86 style of music is the pairing which makes this album special enough to recommend.  The instruments and melody support the vocals without overwhelming them, and provide a familiarity which is both comforting and avoids distracting you from the vocals.

The streams for "Joanna", "Drag Me Down" and "Stuck" are provided below, but based on my evaluation there are a number of other songs of the 14 on the album which are at least as worthy to showcase the quality of the band's efforts, including "Forget the Fall", "Lonely", and "Anna".
September 8.  The growth of this band, from demos circulating on the Internet just last year to this debut album, is remarkable and encouraging.  Perhaps it is time to decorate your ears with some Flowers?

Do What You Want To, It's What You Should Do is out now via Fortuna POP! in Europe and Kanine Records in the US.









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