© 2024 Public Radio Tulsa
800 South Tucker Drive
Tulsa, OK 74104
(918) 631-2577

A listener-supported service of The University of Tulsa
classical 88.7 | public radio 89.5
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Songs We Love: Florist, 'White Light Doorway'

Florist.
Stephanie Griffin
/
Courtesy of the artist
Florist.

There is something about Emily Sprague's voice that both transcends twee indie-pop clichés even as it revels in them. The songs she writes for Florist — an Upstate New York quartet which recently decamped for the bright lights of Brooklyn, and is part of The Epoch collective alongside artists such as Eskimeaux – communicate the youthful discovery of self, sans filters. Or at least that's what Sprague's intimate-beyond-comfort, speak-singing voices makes it all sound like. It features something like a mix of Kim Gordon's fierce detachment, Peggy Lee's light-headed self-destruction, and the whimsy of all the narrators in Belle & Sebastian songs.

/ Courtesy of the artist
/
Courtesy of the artist

One verse of the barely two-minutes-long "White Light Doorway," a great tune from the group's upcoming full-length debut, The Birds Sang Outside, includes lines that seem simply ridiculous, the actions of a semi-competent mumblecore actress going for grand allegory and failing. Yet next to lyrics that touch upon a diary-like exploration of spiritual yearning, and sung over a lonely, fuzzed-out electric guitar and a kick-drum, it's not silly at all. Forget poetry or narrative, this is confession as a mix of children's therapy and religion, one that comes outlined in Crayola colors. That the song ends so quickly makes it feel even more honest and gratifying, speeding you back to press "Rewind" or to see what other unlikely thing might happen.

The Birds Sang Outside is out on Jan. 29 on Double Double Whammy

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Piotr Orlov