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

I bring Wilde and his quote up for two reasons. London trio Flowers’ M.O. on their mouthful of a debut, Do What You Want To, It’s What You Should Do (henceforth, to be referred to as simply “the album”) is to cogitate track to track on simply being young and, from the sounds of it, these folks would get on board with a healthy dose of Wilde. From the get go, vocalist and bassist Rachel Kenedy declares on the aptly titled “Young” that, on that very topic, she “would never tire of this / and if I do, then bury me beside you”. Everything sounds so pristine; the guitars chime spotlessly and Kenedy’s voice is one of warm, rich yearning calibrated to utmost precision. From any other voice, such a statement would be met with a groan and eyeroll, but from Kenedy, there’s an effusive restraint; at once, she conveys both the naïve joy and green apprehension of youth.

Of course, Flowers is hardly the first troupe to address youth in song. While the sentiment is, in a way, similar, it’s a far cry from “hope I die before I get old” or certainly, “get pissed, destroooooy!” Think of it as Smiths-lite, at least in its execution of a similar idea; it’s impossibly pretty, charming, and pleasant, qualities welcomed by the ears but incapable of baring any teeth to sink in our flesh and hold us there. When Kenedy offers the album’s namesake line in “Forget The Fall”, the wildest and most reckless she’s probably extending to is perhaps cutting class, not for a joyride bashing mailboxes or smoking a bowl and hitting up the arcade, but to go lie in the flowerbeds next to the pond and read poetry – you know, something they’re not covering in class(!) – to each other.

I digress and admit this may be a pinch harsh, though Flowers’ inability to consistently grab the listener from track to track does present a problem. That said, at least half the time, Kenedy’s angelic vocals and the clean, simple melodies are undeniable. Songs like “Lonely”, “I Love You”, and “Be With You” embed their sentiments under the skin swift and clean as a surgeon’s scalpel. Kenedy’s wordplay here is top-notch, expertly conveying the disorienting symbiosis in the wake of a break up, “leave me alone, but don’t leave me lonely / pick up the phone, but please don’t speak”. The album’s clincher, though, lies in its shortest track, “If I Tell You”. Accompanied by no more than an unadorned guitar jangle, dressed with a tidy bend and pull lick, Kenedy is virtually live, right in your ear with her nervous, naked admission of love, “if I told you / I’d have to hold you / and if I scare you away / I will lose everything”.

Flowers’ debut – oh, all right, Do What You Want To, It’s What You Should Do – isn’t really revelatory in any sense, though it’s an irrefutably gorgeous document. From here, though, Flowers has quite a conundrum; that peerless beauty is at once their trump card and Achilles heel. Very few can pull off such an alluringly raw construction, but its very delicacy can send it slipping through its listeners fingers.