Release Date: 29/07/2020
Record Label: Unsigned
For Fans Of: Daughter, Phoebe Bridgers, Joni Mitchell
Like a rose that grows from concrete or a phoenix rising from the ashes, Wilted Flower emerges fresh from heartbreak with an EP about lost love. The Nottingham-based emo-folk singer presents six tracks that detail the journey involved with a love that is no more, from anger, to dismay, to the numbness that dominates within. It’s atmospheric poetry and it is hauntingly beautiful. Here Lies Our Love is as far from Hollywood romance as can be.
The vocals throughout this release are flawless from start to finish, demonstrating Wilted Flower’s authentic and unquestionable talent. ‘Widow’ is a song that showcases such ability, with a performance that seamlessly flows between whispered lullabies and gut-wrenching cries. ‘Residing In A Graveyard’ is a harmonious track that gathers momentum throughout, building towards an explosive outpouring of emotion.
If Here Lies Our Love was a moment, it would be rain trickling down a window before falling to the earth below. It’s a colourless and unfortunate chapter of life, with a sense of inevitability to it, but it’s the first step to healing. An air of melancholy surrounds Wilted Flower throughout but never more so than with ‘Beautiful, But Bleak’, a plaintive and powerful echo from the human conscience that stirs emotion with the unsettling aura that underpins the song.
Wilted Flower might not be singing about sunshine and rainbows but there is a charm to Here Lies Our Love that is heartwarming. ‘Silencer’ is reassuringly soft and subtle in its sound but the positive exterior masks an interior that is in pain, and similar can be said of ‘Bright Eyes and Goodbyes’.
Wilted Flower bravely bares her soul for the world to see following the loss of love in her life, and the result is an EP in Here Lies Our Love that is bursting at the seams with emotion that is raw, genuine and stirring. There lies a real beauty in the creation of something so authentic in the midst of such sorrow that makes this release so relatable and endearing.
Rating: 7/10
Recommended Track: ‘Widow’