Album Review – Heat by Flower Crown (2021) (Crafted Sounds)
The recent release of the quite superlative The Billy single from this Pittsburg based quintet, only served to set lofty expectations for the eventual release of this Heat album. Sometimes releasing ‘the best’ first can be a dangerous ploy, if all else that eventually accompanies it is not worthy of it’s company.
There are certainly no such issues here as the utter brilliance of Only Life, The Heat, See You There and Islands in the Sky take a similar route to the aforementioned single by providing slowly developing jangled riffs, that are gradually allowed to permeate a lo-fi, psyche-rock gauze, to provide fully formed jangle-gaze melodies. It’s a sounds that permanently drifts anywhere between the isolation of the Swiss Portrait vibe and the lucidity of early Real Estate.
Although the above beauty is the majoritive aesthetic, tracks such as All That You Ever Need and King Cool add some respite from all things resplendent, by exploring lesser tempos and darker, dank atmospheres, as the aeshetic takes a detour into more traditional shoegaze territory and depicts Flower Crown’s absolute master of all that is reverb.
Flower Crown are somehow finding the sweet spot between jangle, dream-pop and shoegaze better than anyone at present and this release deserves every accolade that will eventually be bestowed upon it.
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