Flower Girl gets down to business in their latest album Tuck in Your Tie-Dye released on BUFU Records. With twangy guitars riffs, infectiously fun songs, and healthy doses of cowbell, the album is a recipe for nothing but good vibes.
If you didn’t know the band was from Brooklyn, you probably would have assumed they hailed from somewhere less hectic after listening to the album. Flower Girl presents feel-good, laid-back, sun-tanned tunes that have a hint of country influence, but comfortably stay in the hippie pop realm that is unique to them. It’s familiar and easygoing, and as a result, Flower Girl’s music makes it feel like you’ve been friends with the fun-loving bunch for years.
“Hi5s” speaks to this charmingly lackadaisical feel of Flower Girl. If the lyrics don’t make it clear that they want to spread the love, the upbeat, bouncing sound surely will. The song, like the entire album, sounds as if it speaks to simplicity, and yet the music itself is layered and humbly elaborate.
This complex level of sound exists in the instrumentation on single tracks, but it is also exhibited in the album as a whole. An example is “Wading Online.” The song is slightly different from the rest, adding the perfect variation. It echoes the twangy hippie pop of the album, but has a driving and irresistible rhythm that is almost reminiscent of ‘90’s and early 2000’s alternatively styled pop. It’s distinctly Flower Girl, but with a refreshing twist.
Flower Girl lets loose in “Tucked Out” because sometimes you have to groove with your tie-dye shirt out in its full glory. It’s as if they are trying to tell you to not take life too seriously, and why should you when you have such a playful album marked by exceptional musicianship and songwriting to listen to?
To end the album, “Scary Drive II” acts as nice homage to “Scary Drive” off previously released album Okie Dokie Howdy Doody and it comes complete with cowbell and all. The parallel the sequel presents is striking because it allows you to see that Tuck in Your Tie-Dye stays true to the band’s fun-loving roots, but adds just enough variation to make a newly evolved (though just as fun-loving and catchy) record.
