Review Summary: The sound of a promising future.
When Night Flowers appeared from behind the curtain in 2018 with
Wild Notion, I instantly knew they were special. Simply put, they had a knack for writing easy-listening ear worms with remarkable ease and style. Songs like "Hey love" and pop anthem "Cruel Wind" had as much cheese as swag in them, and they were part of the soundtrack of my daily commute for the last half of the year. Hell, I confess they still come up in rotation from time to time.
A year and a half later, the quintet from London rolls out a new collection of tunes in timely fashion, just keeping up that momentum that has taken them around festivals and venues all over the world.
Fortune Teller is a lighter album than
Wild Notion, but it does a good job in preserving the band's lovely brand of dream pop, this time with a few new brushes. There is indeed less dream pop in
Fortune Teller, maybe more of a Fleetwood Mac component in songs like "Lotta Love" or "Merry - Go - Around". Acoustic field recordings like "Perfect Storm" show them in a close, intimate setting while pop gems like "Night Train", "Fortune Teller" and "I've Loved You (Such a Long Time)" prove they still had outstanding songs in them waiting to be thrown out in the world. It's a mild disappointment that the album ends with a track like "No Coming Down", which honestly pales in comparison with the epic send-off that was "Cruel Wind", off their debut, but still, the slower pace and its calming nature fits somehow nicely with the rest of the album.
The brief runtime of barely half an hour makes me think that
Fortune Teller could have benefit from a longer time in the drawing board but, on the other hand, I also have the feeling that these are songs that work wonders on a live setting, because of their simple and direct approach, so it makes sense that the band aimed at engrossing their live set with fresh new material. This and the brevity of the whole package is always inviting for a replay, and it is after a few listens where some of the songs really start to shine, partly thanks to Sophia Pettit's ravishing voice, usually complemented by Greg Ullyart's beautiful harmonies, and a pristine production work by the band's own very own drummer, the magically named Zebedee Budworth.
Fortune Teller shows promise for the future of Night Flowers. It's a simple, smooth collection of pop tunes without any sort of pomposity or flashy tricks, just the kind of stuff that makes you want to cuddle a cushion on a rainy night while sipping red wine and sobbing over that crush that doesn't text back. Sometimes simple is good, and in the case of Night Flowers, this one hits a sweet spot.
