Flowers – and so she thinks

The magic of flowers

admin — Sun, 05 Mar 2017 18:44:16 +0000

There’s something about receiving fresh flowers that just makes everything better. From the moment that the door rings and a parcel arrives from someone unknown and you get a frivolous shiver, from feeling loved and wanted as you read the card, and throughout the following days and weeks when the scent wafts to your nose and your eyes are thrilled by the wonder and beauty of nature. Seeing flowers always lifts the spirit, and even more so when the day starts off with them.

There’s a whole language and meaning to the practice of giving flowers, as Vanessa Diffenbaugh explored in her wonderful novel. Or Caitlin Moran said in an open letter to young girls in her column for The Times, ‘Buy flowers …blossom – and put them at the end of the bed. When you wake, look at it, and tell yourself you are the kind of person who wakes up and sees flowers. This stops your first thought being, “I fear today. Today is the day maybe I cannot survive anymore,” which I know is what you would otherwise think. Thinking about blossom before you think about terror is what girls must always do. Various studies show the health benefits of flowers, from the anxiety soothing fragrances, make you feel more positive about your home and space, encourage connection with nature and boost self-compassion.

The big bunch of oriental pink lilies, charming roses, lush green leaves, all dusky pinks, simmering amaranth and rich cerise, that sits at my desk right now makes me feel happy and alive. But it’s not just young girls who need this lift. It’s not just girls who need blossom in their lives. So this spring share flowers with your mum, celebrate a birthday, or just say thank you. I’m also a big believer in treating yourself, just because. The simple things can be the most magical.

Evans The Death & Flowers @ Sebright Arms

admin — Sun, 08 Feb 2015 13:12:14 +0000

Saturday 7th February
If you’re seeking a foray into indie pop delights, a Fortuna Pop! is probably the place to go. With Flowers and Evans The Death on the bill, we expected guitar jangles and rustling drum beats to ricochet around the room at the Sebright Arms – and were not disappointed – but this happy and pulsing clatter was also infused with a slight element of the bittersweet. These are two bands who write flickering and joyous songs that are as tempestuous as they are energetic, written from a place of authenticity and an acceptance of the affecting realities of life.

Gazing around we were struck by how crowd was older than you might expect at this hipster London venue, even whilst the band members looked as adolescent as their songs sounded. Perhaps this proves that the basic tenets and emotions of human experience are the same, regardless of age or lifestyle – we all struggle with what to feel, where to go, what to eat, who to hang out with, and all the other mundane trivialities that these two bands explore in their catalogue of sparkly yet sardonic songs. Seamlessly shifting between deep and lovelorn yearning and positive life affirming sentiment, both bands put on a fun show. There’s an assumption that indie must be deep, and music challenging, but sometimes, fun is enough.
Flowers debut album Do What You Want To, It’s What You Should Do was released last year on Fortuna Pop!, and live they are just as bright and joyous as on record. Fresh vocals from the impish Rachel Kennedy bring songs such as Young, Lonely I Love You and Joanna alive, simmering with maximum emotion whilst pressing minimal demands. Evans The Death are frenetic, insistent and bounding with energy, Katherine Whitaker’s gnarly vocals bringing to life the songs penned by guitarist Dan Moss. Threads and Unclean evoke tapping legs and shifting shoulders, playfully skipping along, and new single Enabler, off second album Expect Delays (get it?) suggests that they have not lost their jagged and jangly edge.
The bands and their label have never claimed to be rewriting the musical rulebook. But that’s fine. It’s not what I want on a cold Saturday. Whilst this wasn’t a revelatory or transcendent experience in the slightest, it was nice and fun. And nice and fun is good.

Flowers

admin — Sat, 13 Sep 2014 11:01:53 +0000

The Flowers Band from Gloucester are in their 46^th year. Oh no, that’s the wrong one. This Flowers isn’t an ancient brass band, but a trio of indiepop perfection. The fourteen tracks on debut album are like brief catchy morsels planted into a youthful time capsule, frantic and feverish in energy and sentiment. They flirt with fuzzpop shimmer on first single Joanna, explicit reveal the pain of love on Drag Me Down, start soothingly stripped back on opener Young, and wear the influence of producer Bernard Butler most evidently in the teasingly sensuous I Love You. Comprising the best of bedroom creation with inventive melodies and intense performance, this is a sweet, wholesome and very Fortuna record.

LodeStar Festival

admin — Mon, 06 May 2013 08:40:49 +0000

I’ve never been to Cambridge. Come 31st August, all that will have changed, as LodeStar kicks into gear. Held on vast flat fenland 15mins from Cambridge city centre on one of the best weather weekends of the year, LodeStar Festival provides a full weekend of entertainment, including live music, comedy, theatre, market stalls, quality catering and even sport activities. Full of variety for those who like more than one spice in their life, the festival is now entering its fifth year and has is by all accounts most relaxed and chilled boutique festivals in the UK and has been universally praised for its affordable prices and for the quality of the acts involved. The incredible The Joy Formidable will be playing, their epic and grand sets often worth a festival ticket alone, as well as buzz boy Mausi, London rocker Hatcham Social, and, amongst others Dragonette, El Perro Del Mar, Thumpers, Ryan Keen, Paper Aeroplanes, Kimberly Anne, Caracol, The Vestals, The Birthday Kiss, Flowers, Candy Says and Lonely The Brave. More are to be announced and mid priced tickets are available now from the festival website www.lodestarfestival.com.