Review Summary: Learn how to care for flowers
Lately, I've come to appreciate that less is more. In a world saturated with targeted digital marketing, dopamine hits at the push of a button, and more music at our fingertips than could ever possibly be consumed, I'm increasingly opting for experiences that make me feel something
real. Packed into a tidy three-song EP is How to Care for Flowers' macro-burst of emotion,
For a Brief Moment I Felt the Sun’s Warmth, and Now the Cold Stings Worse Than It Ever Did Before, and in less than twelve minutes I've felt more than I have across the sum of all the full-length albums that I've heard in 2023. There's something special about that, something that can't be manufactured, designed, or concocted...a genuine connection between an artist baring their soul and a listener hanging on every word. It's the magic of music. It's why I do this.
Maybe the stars just happened to align perfectly. Lately I've been feeling like my attempts to better the world around me are futile. Genuine kindness rarely seems reciprocated. Hope sparks, only to slowly suffocate beneath the weight of daily stress in a world that doesn't care. Sometimes, the anger boils over and I become part of the problem. My view of existence as a whole is overwhelmingly negative. I'm only in my thirties and several of my closest friends have already died. I feel trapped in a society where suffering is the norm. I want to enjoy the simple things again. I want to feel like I'm
living each day instead of merely floating by. I don't want it to all be for nothing.
For a Brief Moment I Felt the Sun’s Warmth... rounds up so many of these feelings and expresses them better than I ever could. On 'In A New Light', Ryan Kelly's shrill screams drive each word into my soul like a hammer, industriously nailing deeper a series of personal revelations: "I am the rust after the rain / I am the rot and the decay, I am a weed in a bouquet / I am the darkness at the ending of the day...I'm not what was, I am what's left." As Kelly does so masterfully throughout this EP, the bleakness of such lines are always counterbalanced by a sliver of light; not so much a present feeling but rather a desire – this place or feeling to aspire to: "Enrich the soil and let love grow, just help me find the seeds to sow / And I will nurture them this time, I want so bad to feel alive." You can tangibly
feel the desperation; this sense of having missed an opportunity at happiness and thus being all the more willing to do things right next time. The vocal delivery is convincingly drenched in despair, while pianos underscore it all with melancholic elegance.
The guitar-driven tempo of 'The Screening Room Incident' seizes the momentum garnered by the opener while rounding up the same general aesthetic of
shouting-at-the-light-from-a-place-of-utter-darkness, albeit with an even heavier post-hardcore instrumental glaze this time. Lyrically centered around the concept of certain disappointment, the track plunges us even further into sadness: "I could have boarded my windows and spent the summer inside / So when winter started looming, I wouldn’t miss the sunlight / Just cut it off at the source, deprive myself of the warmth." It's basically the antithesis to the "better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all" axiom, seemingly born out of a pain so deep that the narrator refuses to entertain the idea of even temporary vulnerability: "For a brief moment I felt the sun’s warmth, and now the cold stings worse than it ever did before...Fuck."
'人身事故 (花をより長く、美 しく、楽しむ)' wraps up the experience with a touching ode to a girl who committed suicide on train tracks, putting the onus on society to put a stop to what Kelly calls "the suicide pipeline": "When she died, there was no color left in her eyes, but it had been that way now for a long time / She saw only dark where the light had been, and she knew that light was never coming back again", Ryan sings, later adding, "If this is our whole lives, then we’ve already died / How many lives will they drive to suicide? / Don’t let more wither away / Learn how to care for flowers." The combination of using the project's namesake in conjunction with a message so important swings like an emotional wrecking ball, and before you know what hit you, the album is over. It's a fleeting experience, and not unlike life itself, often cut far too short.
For a Brief Moment I Felt the Sun’s Warmth... is not an EP that will make huge waves in the emo/post-hardcore scene, but it is one whose impact will be felt by those who listen. The vocal performance by Ryan Kelly is one that is instantly memorable, not only because Kelly effortlessly weaves between catchy cleans and harsher cuts, but also because he's capable of delivering a lyrical knockout blow at any moment. The songwriting is superb as well; all three tracks bring an unforgettable blend of melody and raw energy, with each exploring a unique style/wrinkle. How to Care for Flowers seems to possess the ideal blend of emotional intensity and enjoyable music. So gather 'round, bring your worst, and let the catharsis begin.
