Florist is an apt moniker for Emily Sprague’s bedroom-folk recording project. Each of the five songs on her group’s new EP, Holdly, feels like a delicately tended to Faulknerian rose: a signifier of life, death, and the memories between. We’ve been waiting for a full-length from The Epoch affiliated act—which also includes Rick Spataro, Jonnie Baker and Felix Walworth—since the start of 2015. And while the long player has yet to be announced, we’re getting a preview of what to expect in the way of Holdly, a five-song EP being released by Double Double Whammy on October 30.
Florist’s songs are quietly powerful—they might be the meekest of the Epoch crew in terms of volume, but when it comes to emotional core and lyrical bravery, they hold audiences captive and have a way of lingering. Sprague’s lyrics are straightforward, meditative and inviting. Throughout the EP, she sings about uncertainty, childhood, fear, optimism and loss as if by writing about them, she can figure out what they mean. These sensibilities that permeate Florist’s work are exemplified in “Cool and Refreshing” wherein Sprague details being frightened of letting go, saying in one line “it’s terrifying” and the very next “it’s totally fine.” These statements are contradictory, but part of the enigma of the human brain is it doesn’t make sense. Feelings are feelings, and Sprague’s writing is relatable. Sprague told FADER that “Holdly remains calm all while realizing, living with, and wholly accepting the sad and beautiful life that every one of us experiences.”
You can stream Holdly below. Florist’s full-length, The Birds Outside Sang, will be out in early 2016.
Florist tour dates
November
03 Ithaca, NY at House Show
04 Cleveland, OH
05 Grand Rapids, MI at Witch House
06 Chicago, IL at Pinky Swear
07 St. Louis, MO at Lemp
08 Bloomington, IN at The Bishop
09 Nashville, TN
11 Denton, TX at Rubber Gloves
12 Austin, TX
13 New Orleans, LA at Sisters In Christ
15 Savannah, GA
16 Atlanta, GA at Masquerade (Purgatory)
17 Athens, GA
18 Durham, NC at Duke Coffeehouse
19 Washington, DC
20 Philadelphia, PA at Everybody Hits
