Hailing from the towering metropolis of Grand Manan, New Brunswick, post-rock ambient band Floristry has sprung onto the scene with their debut album The Longing, Long After. Sometimes, you really just need an instrumental, widely interpretive backdrop to get you through the day, and this group will deliver.
The album find its strength in utilizing a minimalistic approach to lyrics. Floristry puts a heavy focus on creating something atmospheric, while keeping their tunes rhythmically interesting. Most of the album’s tracks also exceed the average length of three minutes and change—particularly the hefty, “A Burial at Sea” weighing in at 9 minute and 8 seconds—further encouraging one to just kick back with this diverse soundtrack.
Tunes like “Everything Was Beautiful,” “An Expedition, an Exploration,” and the first half of “A Burial at Sea” exemplify the album’s greatest strengths; heartfelt melodies that the listener can use to nourish feelings of passion, bittersweetness, or any emotion in between and beyond. It’s an introspective paradise.
“Nothing Hurt Pt. II,” and “If You’d Rather Be a Window, I’d Gladly Be the Frame” share these same strengths, but explore the murkier waters of lyrical content. With a heavy gurgle, Floristry manages a fresh level of ambiance that somehow sits between Chris Carrabba and Jimmy Pop. It’s deeply emotive, carrying on in the school of whatever caused Thom Yorke to abandon consonants in the late ’90s.
The sole weak spot of the album would have to be its use of certain grandiose sounds near the end of a good deal of tracks, most notably “A Burial at Sea,” “Migration,” and “Summits.”
While sounds like these would typically enhance tunes that are ambient in nature, Floristry’s gentle instrumentals are more than capable of creating a lovely, immersive atmosphere, and the presence of these larger sounds are a bit overbearing, and also a shift from where Floristry shines the most.
At the end of the day, though, Floristry’s ability to weave these cordial melodies into whatever emotions the listener may choose is nothing short of ear-catching, and that alone certainly makes them worth the listen.