Molly Burch - First Flower

Molly Burch
First Flower
2018
Spotify

This is an album you are supposed to like. Molly Burch wears her adoration for jazz singers like Billie Holiday around her neck and it comes through in her almost detached vocal. This album is full of wonderful thoughts and ideas, but the music is just kind of bad. Everything about First Flower feels dated. The vocal blasted through a vinyl filter, the surf rock guitar and the almost inaudible low end makes this album feel more like a book of poetry than a real deal record. She sounds like she is mimicking songs of the past rather than creating something new, a style that Lana Del Rey employed years ago. Nothing sounds like this album right now, and for a reason, it just doesn't really work. On the albums title track  Burch sings "you are my man" over and over as she extols her love, but there is almost no emotion behind the words. The songs all sound slightly different but because the instrumentation is so similar everything sort of bleeds together. Her breathy vocal feels so forced on songs like "Next to Me", almost pushing some kind of odd sensuality down your throat. The entire record feels so very one note it is almost hard to listen to. There are times where I dig surf rock, this is just not once one them.

You keep waiting for some kind of change of pace or a new vibe, but it never comes and the full 36 minute run time sounds completely the same. Her voice alone does not have the power or variety to make this album soar so she relies heavily on her words. The problem is the words just feel like flowery poetry that has been done and said many times. She is dealing with her own anxiety and thoughts on relationships, but she isn't bringing any new ideas to the table. The way this record was recorded also feels intentionally dated, something that rarely works in the musicians favor. It's fine to try and harness some sounds from the past to round out your music, but here it just feels like they are playing around. The sentiments are nice but You're never able to fully engage. Molly Burch might have some good ideas, and some flowery language, but in practice this album is way too much of a snooze.

4.0 out of 10