“I’m a woman. Not a siren calling.” Indeed!
Florrie has managed crafting quite a pop record, and this is for the most part all by herself! Florrie’s vocals are very distinct, and the all the instrumentation and arrangements just seem to work in her favour. Being a singer-songwriter/drummer, I am not sure if she had any assistance in the songwriting, however she manages to write some very catchy lyrics. And it is worth mentioning that she is without a record label, by choice!
I have been listening to Florrie’s aptly titled debut EP for about a half-year now, and it only keeps on getting better. Each and every track is unique in its own way. From the very start it keeps the listener listening. “Call of the Wild” sounds like one may expect after hearing it, and especially with the lyrics starting: “Want you, need you. It’s the call of the wild. Something animal, more than physical. Satisfy me cos I’m falling apart.” And some howls in there too! It makes for an up-tempo pop song with nicely placed tempo changes. It also has an ingenious bridge with her almost scatting (okay, not really) before naming off times “tick, tock, ten to one”, “tick, tock, ten to two”, etc.
Being a drummer, it is a must to have a percussion heavy track, even though I am not sure if she played the drums on the EP. That song, “Give Me Your Love” was the first song I really started appreciating from the four track EP. The lyrics being very irresistible when sung by her, the song starts: “You’re playing with dangerous” which does not really make sense grammatically speaking, but sounds great! As does “Oh won’t be the one that got away.
You know it baby. Oh I’ve got you hooked this time and predator catches it prey!”
“Summer Nights” is probably the most ‘pop’ song in the more traditional sense of the word. And what makes it distinct is the very obvious kick/snare beat. There are other elements, guitar, synth, and bass starts up after a little while. My only complaint with the EP is maybe the bass could have been a little quieter in the mix. Despite that, the track, perhaps the kick/snare, along with the bass, and guitar snippets give it a small hint of a retro feel, albeit maybe unintentional. Although I did read on Wikipedia: “it’s going to be a big mixture: Kind of a sixties, organic feel merged with modern pop beats and electronics.” And that quote was from an interview with Florrie (see source below)!
“Left Too Late” is the definite throwback track, with synth and drum machine playing the pivotal roles. It actually reminds me a lot of the great old Bronski Beat track “Smalltown Boy.”
I mentioned above how she is without a label, by choice. The reason being she wants to artistically explore without any record label pressure, and find her sound/identity. This is what I remember reading. Read it in more detail at her website (I did not want to steal her words directly, hence not re-reading before writing this).
Florrie has been the in-house drummer for the Xenomania production team out of the United Kingdom, so she has drummer for the likes of Girls Aloud and Alesha Dixon.
And did I mention this EP is a free download!?! Her new EP, Experiments, can be heard for free online, and purchased from the iTunes.
Get it now, at the very least stream it a few times, at which point it will have to be downloaded!
Sources used:
Lyrics – Call of the Wild by Florrie
Lyrics – Give Me Your Love by Florrie
PonyStep: FLORRIE. She Bangs The Drum…
Too Much Music (is a good thing) 