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Fortuna POP!

  • Flowers 'Everybody'â„¢s Dying To Meet You' - Cargo Records UK

    Fortuna POP!

    Flowers 'Everybody"s Dying To Meet You'

    £9.99

    There's something great about a three-piece - think The Cocteau Twins, The Clean, Galaxie 500 - and the way that irreducible nucleus takes its strength from its limitations, making a virtue of its purity. And so it is with London trio Flowers, returning with their second album Everybody's Dying To Meet You in February 2016 via Fortuna Pop! (EU) and Kanine (US). Over the course of ten intensely thrilling pop songs, singer Rachel Kenedy's ethereal vocals and Sam Ayres textured guitar are backed by the powerful, metronomic beat of drummer Jordan Hockley.

    Flowers began with Sam's year-long search for a singer, and when he posted one last fateful advert, stating he wanted to make pop songs like "early Madonna through a broken tape machine", this led him to Rachel. Right away the two fell into a deeply creative and romantic partnership. Currently sharing a flat in East London with their adorable dog Batman, they restore vintage musical equipment and feverishly record demos.

    The first batch, polished up by none other than Bernard Butler, turned into debut Do What You Want To, It's What You Should Do released in 2013. Created during a period of illness for Ayres, the result is an album that, while exquisite in its own way, is necessarily subdued in tone.

    For Everybody's Dying to Meet You the band retreated to Bark Studios in Walthamstow to work with producer Brian O'Shaughnessey (The Clientele, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine), a return home for Sam, who was born and spent most of his life in the area.  It proved to be the perfect fit for Flowers, the sessions enabling them to capture the essence of both their dynamic live sound and their distortion-laden home demos. Effortlessly blending pop songs with noise while leaving space for more stripped back elements, the recordings strike a perfect balance between the sweetness of Rachel's voice and Sam's abrasive guitar stylings. Their musical inspirations, from shoegaze, C86 and New Zealand's Flying Nun label, are now evident.

    The infuriatingly catchy first single and opening track 'Pull My Arm' nearly didn't make it onto the album. Written during rehearsals for their tour with Luna after album recording sessions had finished, the band hastily booked another day at Bark and laid it down the day after the tour finished. Band favourite 'Ego Loss' began with Sam playing with a new guitar pedal and writing a punk number - ¦ before the addition of Rachel's words saw it morph into something completely different. Other highlights include the pop rush of 'Bitter Pill' and the mesmeric, slow-burning 'Intrusive Thoughts'.

    Armed with a youthful intensity and determination that shows in their songs, Flowers have succeeded in harnessing their singular magic. Exuberant and electrifying, Everybody's Dying To Meet You crackles with confidence.

    Tracklisting:
    1. Pull My Arm
    2. Bitter Pill
    3. Ego Loss
    4. All At Once
    5. Intrusive Thoughts
    6. How Do You Do
    7. Tammy
    8. Russian Doll
    9. My Only Friend
    10. Bathroom Sink

    LIVE:
    Wednesday 6th January - Fortuna POP! Winter Sprinter @ The Lexington,
    London Friday 12th February  - Album Launch, Rough Trade East,
    London Friday 11th March - Sebright Arms, London
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  • Flowers 'Do What You Want To, It's What You Should Do' - Cargo Records UK

    Fortuna POP!

    Flowers 'Do What You Want To, It's What You Should Do'

    £9.99

    Heavyweight Vinyl LP with free download.

    Gatefold all card digipack CD.

    Produced by Bernard Butler, London trio Flowers' debut album Do What You Want To, It's What You Should Do captures the intensity of being young in fourteen deceptively simple pop songs that take their power from their brevity, elevated by Rachel Kenedy's extraordinary voice.

    Flowers are Sam Ayres (Guitar/Synths), Rachel Kenedy (Vocals/Bass/Synths) and Jordan Hockley (Drums), brought together by Sam's advert for a singer to make music like "Madonna through a broken tape machine". The three of them immediately moved in together and spent the following weeks writing pop songs, practicing daily in their living room and recording through the night, barely sleeping with the excitement of it all and amassing a huge collection of over a hundred songs in demo form.

    When they posted the results of their feverish recording online, word quickly spread and within weeks they were touring Europe with The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, despite never having played live before. More shows followed, including a support for Young Marble Giants in London at the behest of another fan who had discovered them via the internet, Young Marble Giants guitarist / songwriter Stuart Moxham. Appropriate first supports, as Flowers' live performances draw a line between the joyous fuzzpop of The Pains and the minimalist brilliance of Young Marble Giants. The reception at the shows was nothing less than rapturous, with audiences blown away by their intensity and compelled by their sparse beauty: Jordan a physical yet inventive presence behind the drum kit, Sam a constant blur of kinetic energy on guitar and Rachel utterly still. The shows would often end with the stark and mesmeric Stuck, with Rachel alone, accompanying herself a one-string bass guitar, soul laid bare.

    It was clear that Flowers needed a producer to help them capture the emotion and simplicity of their live show and that search led them to the door of Bernard Butler, whose track record and love of the Cocteau Twins marked him out to be the perfect choice. That and his love of the Gibson ES-355 guitar that Sam also plays. And so it was that Flowers' very first foray into a proper recording studio was at Butler's 355 Studio ' a daunting prospect for a young band, softened by Butler's sensitive production and access to his collection of beautiful analogue synths and Vox organ. Band and producer worked in harmony to produce a set of songs much cleaner and clearer sounding than anything they had recorded before, dispensing with the wall of sound that characterised their home recordings and providing the clarity to allow the songs to breathe.

    Across these fourteen songs, Flowers explore the gamut of emotions that come with youth. As Rachel says, We were young writing this album (we still are I think!), so all the songs reflect the emotions of being young, which covers just about everything to the extreme; loneliness, happiness, rejection, love, torment, excitement... . For every song about the carefree, halcyon days of youth (Young, Forget The Fall), there is another about the pain of relationships (Drag Me Down, Lonely). The album closes with a run of three exquisite numbers: Be With You, a song of reassurance, about knowing that everything will get better somehow, because it can't not, some things are too good to ever end.; Plastic Jane, about someone who wears a facade with nothing underneath (lyric: Your plastic pain / just like Novocaine); and the aforementioned Stuck.

    Most of the songs weigh in at less than three minutes, a deliberate strategy for a band that seeks strength in simplicity. Our songs tend to be quite short - if there's something that doesn't need to be there, take it out! Just leave in the best bits, explains Rachel. We love all kinds of things, Ramones, Madonna, The Misfits, Iggy & The Stooges, Joy Division, all sorts! The album doesn't sound too much like any of those, but the songs are short and simple pop songs, and all those artists we love write songs like that.

    Indeed, Flowers' genius is in their ability to convey a remarkable amount of emotion with minimal instrumentation. Rachel possesses one of those beautiful pop voices to die for, with echoes of Elizabeth Fraser, Hope Sandoval and Harriet Wheeler, whilst Sam's guitars chime and churn with an incredible intensity and Jordan's drums rip right through with urgency and precision, resulting in a beautiful album that conjures up a strange and entrancing sort of magic. Haunting, mesmerizing and intense, Do What You Want To, It's What You Should Do is an impressive calling card from a sensational new band.

    1. Young 
    2. Forget The Fall 
    3. Drag Me Down 
    4. Worn Out Shoes 
    5. Lonely 
    6. Joanna 
    7. If I Tell You 
    8. Comfort 
    9. I Love You 
    10. All Over Again 
    11. Anna 
    12. Be With You 
    13. Plastic Jane 
    14. Stuck 
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  • Flowers 'Joanna' - Cargo Records UK

    Fortuna POP!

    Flowers 'Joanna'

    £4.99

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    Fortuna POP!

    Flowers 'Joanna'

    £4.99

    Coloured Vinyl 7 Ltd to 500 copies.

    The first single to be taken from the Flowers' album Do What You Want To, It's What You Should Do is Joanna, a song about someone suffering from a depression so deep that has become part of their identity. Joanna was the second song recorded in their sessions with producer Bernard Butler but the first where everything just clicked and the band knew they had a working creative relationship. He made it sound full of vitality and excitement, says Rachel, Flowers' lead singer. We were thrilled with the results and couldn't wait to get back and record the rest of the album with him. Flowers are Sam Ayres (Guitar/Synths), Rachel Kenedy (Vocals/Bass/Synths) and Jordan Hockley (Drums), brought together by Sam's advert for a singer to make music like "Madonna through a broken tape machine".

    Drawing a line between the joyous fuzzpop of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and the minimalist brilliance of Young Marble Giants, the reception at their live shows has been nothing less than rapturous, with audiences blown away by their intensity and compelled by their sparse beauty: Jordan a physical yet inventive presence behind the drum kit, Sam a constant blur of kinetic energy on guitar and Rachel utterly still. It is this dynamic that has been captured over the fourteen deceptively simple pop songs that comprise Flowers debut, Do What You Want To, It's What You Should Do out September 8th via Fortuna Pop! (UK).

    Most of the songs weigh in at less than three minutes, a deliberate strategy for a band that seeks strength in simplicity. Our songs tend to be quite short - if there's something that doesn't need to be there, we take it out. Hoping for just the best bits, explains Rachel. We love all kinds of things, Ramones, Madonna, The Misfits, Iggy & The Stooges, Joy Division, all sorts! The album doesn't sound too much like any of those, but the songs are short and simple pop songs, and all those artists we love write songs like that. Indeed, Flowers' genius is in their ability to convey a remarkable amount of emotion with minimal instrumentation.

    Rachel possesses one of those beautiful pop voices to die for, with echoes of Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins), Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star) and Harriet Wheeler (The Sundays), whilst Sam's guitars chime and churn with an incredible intensity and Jordan's drums rip right through with urgency and precision, resulting in a beautiful album that conjures up a strange and entrancing sort of magic. Haunting, mesmerizing and intense, Do What You Want To, It's What You Should Do is an impressive calling card from a sensational new band. 

    Tracklisting:
    A: Joanna
    B: Rachel's Song
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  • Flowers 'Say 123' - Cargo Records UK

    Fortuna POP!

    Flowers 'Say 123'

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    Fortuna POP!

    Flowers 'Say 123'

    £5.99

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    London trio Flowers return with a new single via Fortuna POP!, the last to be released on the label, singer Rachel Kenedy's ethereal vocals and Sam Ayres textured guitar are, as always, backed by the powerful, metronomic beat of drummer Jordan Hockley. Rachel told us a little bit about the genesis of the recordings:

    'Sean from Fortuna POP! is sadly moving on to greener pastures in Japan and ending the label, but he asked us to do one last single for him, as we owed one for his Jukebox 45s Singles Club.  We don't know where we'll end up next after Fortuna POP!, so rather than looking forwards for this single we decided to be nostalgic and do something that, for us at least, is classic.  For the three of us in the band, "Flowers" has always meant our live performances and our home demos, of which Sam and I have produced hundreds and hundreds (we write them every day), and most of which will probably never be heard by anyone except us, our dog and our long-suffering neighbours.  "Say 123" is one of these home recordings.  The best bit is at the end.

    The b-side, "Rhodes", was recorded at Big Jelly Studios, where we'd gone to record an EP.  We realised after recording the songs we'd brought with us that we'd made a mistake, as the songs weren't quite right or ready yet.  But while we were there, we fell in love with the sound of the Fender Rhodes in the corner of the studio.  With about half an hour left before the van arrived to take us back to London, Sam quickly played me some chords on guitar and hummed a melody for a verse.  I got out a pencil and paper and somehow by the time all our gear was loaded into the van we'd written and recorded this song (we did it live and used one take).

    In keeping with the old-school Flowers theme for this single, we decided to hand-stamp the artwork onto each sleeve and vinyl label.  We used to hand-make all of our artwork, making paper sleeves for CDs we burned on our laptop with random selections of home-demos on.  

    These songs aren't from a forthcoming album or anything, but we really hope you enjoy them.'

    Tracklisting:

    Side A:
    Say 123

    Side B:
    Rhodes

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