Florence Road - Fall Back

Whether it’s through grungy shoegaze guitar, swirling distorted vocal, or even subtly heartbreaking lyrics, Florence Road’s debut mixtape, ‘Fall Back’, portrays a band already fully in command of their talent and using it to the most devastating effect. Lily Aron’s vocal, with all its rasp and strain, feels like it’s about to break apart, somehow capable of conveying moments of impish charm and the next minute tugging at your heartstrings so hard they might snap.

The mixtape kicks off with the delightfully crunchy ‘Hand Me Downs’, staying just on the right side of melodic noise-rock. ‘Goodnight’ was built to be played in big rooms of even bigger fans, with a tongue-in-cheek fuck you chorus that’s just begging for a sing-along moment. Existentialist ballad ‘Caterpillar’ delivers gut punch after gut punch, with piercing strings and shimmering acoustic guitar creating a mystical yet grounded backdrop. Distorted vocal adds to the charged, frenetic energy of ‘Figure It Out’, a truly anthemic statement of intent. ‘Break The Girl’ is almost menacing in its sunny outlook, as another fuck you masquerades itself as an upbeat 90s pop tune. Closer ‘Heavy’ starts out ominous, grows into a sound barrier-smasher of swirling guitar and soaring vocal, before closing out as a piano-led lullaby.

In a nutshell, it’s basically perfection. Get on the Florence Road train now, because they’re going to be huge.