Flowers Telegraphed to All Parts of the World by The Garment District-Album Review
Flowers Telegraphed to All Parts of the World by The Garment District-Album Review
Many bands claim their album contains multiple genres, but that usually comes across as if they were afraid to commit to one, causing their LP to become a messy stew of incohesive songs that only tie together under the banner of a title. However, this is not the case in The Garment District’s newest album, Flowers Telegraphed to All Parts of the World, where the Pittsburg duo consisting of multi-instrumentalist Jennifer Baron and vocalist Lucy Blehar effortlessly move through disco, psychedelia, rock, and pixie punk, sometimes on a single track.
“Left on Coast” starts the album with a synth-laden standard rock tune with two introductions, both somehow reminiscent of k.d.. lang and The Stone Roses. Distorted guitar tones weave with distorted vocal effects, coming together in a sonic tapestry that screams “We just kicked this off!”
“A Street Called Finland” has the most straightforward disco beat, and the rhythm guitar accompanies that style with club-style strumming patterns, shiny and rapid. This track is one of the many moments on the album where Jennifer Baron tastefully pulls out yet another instrument on which she’s adept and accents the song with it, which, in this instance, is a violin that paints the background of the track. Touches like this keep the album fresh, but the deconstruction of the song in the last minute of playtime makes this cut a standout
“The Starfish Song” characterizes itself with a seemingly unending use of the organ that shockingly only punctuates moments of the kind of delicious naughties rock we heard out of The Strokes and Cults. “Island of Stability” is another song that’s in that same vein of anthem rock from the 00s, complete with lyrics both spoken as well as shouted off-mic and an outro comprised entirely of synth and gritty guitar licks.
There are two instrumental tracks on the album: “Seldom Seen Arch” and “Cooling Station”, both of which serve as welcome interludes. “Seldom Seen Arch” has a synth-driven saunter that uses its aquatic soundscape to cool off the album’s fast pace, bringing the vibes down to a stroll on the sidewalk. Whereas “Cooling Station” sounds like the rock-techno blend that used to score video games like Doom and Wolfenstein on the original PlayStation while still managing to serve a similar purpose as “Seldom Seen Arch.”
Nicole Czapinski
Ending the LP is “The Instrument That Plays Itself”. This song has a particularly interesting implementation of the synthesizer, playing the same role as a Turkish Zurna would in Classical Arab bops, as the lead guitar screeches righteously over the top of the arrangement through a heavily reverberated mixture, like an eagle into the sunset of this album.
While a few of these tracks could’ve done with being around two minutes shorter, the album as a whole really works. The Garment District’s discography is excellent music to have on in the background while doing chores. They free your mind from the mundane task at hand by getting you caught up in the ethereal, repetitive melodies. Laced throughout this entire album is a throughline of pixie-punk. For moments on every track, the band achieves the kind of sound Plumtree and Sleater-Kinney were creating in the 90s and throwing it in with a medley of genres. The album is a nonstop blender of rock and its subgenres. If you enjoy ambitious and experimental music that works, then Flowers Telegraphed to All Parts of the World is absolutely worth a listen.
The Garment District – Flowers Telegraphed to All Parts of the World
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