When it comes to all great artists, the centre can never hold, things can’t stay the way that they were, and change is inevitable. When it comes to some musicians, this is terrible news. After all, rock stars are paid a lot of money to pretend that time has changed nothing.
There are 70-year-old rockstars playing the songs that they wrote when they were 18 years old about learning to drive, meeting the girls and getting their first beer.
The truth is that things change, and only the very best and most courageous musical artists are ready to embrace it. Change isn’t inevitably a bad thing. But, on the other hand, there must be a good reason why so few famous bands play new songs on their tours. Perhaps they lack the guts?
Flora Cash is not a band that lacks the guts or is afraid of where time will lead them. Nothing lasts forever. Things fall apart. But, maybe in all of that turmoil lies beauty. Maybe a great new song is just around the corner. This is what the duo’s new album, “Behind Every Beautiful Thing”, is all about.
The album opens with the slow, meditative “Should’ve Dressed for the Event.” It’s a song that feels written as a kind of premonition. Call this pessimism or simply getting ready for the worst. But just like the great poets need great pain, Flora Cash know some good must come out of these trials and tribulations.
Much of the rest of the album rests on a hush and a whisper. “Just Wanna Feel You” plays with minimalist lo-fi musical elements. Vocals filled with love, longing and despair are sprinkled over those.
And, indeed, there’s great emotional honesty throughout. The soul-pop of “My Ex Would’ve Left by Now” is one of the most commercially-driven offerings on the album. And “The Night is Young” features brittle, sensitive vocals but also a great sense of hopefulness.
Flora Cash’s brad and butter is early morning music that’s tender and hazy, a kind of folk and pop hybrid for morning radio listeners. But the group also does well when raising the stakes, such as on “Dragon,” a tune that features a climax worthy of a Kings of Leon record, or the dramatic Southern Gothic of “HOLY WATER.”
Things change. Most people can’t handle that. Artists are especially prone to overreact to such things. However, Flora Cash welcome the turmoil. It’s not just because the two musicians are confident in themselves. They’re confident that some good songs will find them through it all.
Edit: Contributions from Dakota Holden on the pedal steel (Morning Comes, Baby I Love You, The Night Is Young).
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