Shpresa Lleshaj and Cole Randall met on Soundcloud in 2012 forming Flora Cash. In the years since, the Swedish-American duo have released four albums, including their latest Behind Every Beautiful Thing. As with previous efforts, the album was entirely written and produced by the band. It creates an album as diverse sounding as the band’s make-up.
Both Lleshaj and Randall handle lead vocal duties but even from song to song, the vocalists use different timbres. On opening track, “Should’ve Dressed For the Event,” Randall’s voice is trembling over emotive piano. The tremolo at the end of every sung line is completely gone on later album tracks like “My Ex Would’ve Left By Now.”
The same goes for Lleshaj’s vocals. On “HOLY WATER,” she is a dead ringer for Born to Die-era Lana Del Rey over the epic, atmospheric instrumental. On the country-tinged “Morning Comes,” she sounds more like Adrianne Lenker (albeit a little less witchy).
The most different song by far is closer, “The Builder (for J. Blom).” The album features Djordje Milanovic on violin and viola and Yoed Nir on cello throughout but they take center stage on thetrack. Over piano and esoteric percussion, the emotive strings make up the lead melody until they come to a cacophonous crescendo nearly five minutes after the start. “The Builder (for J. Blom)” is the longest song on the album. It is the only instrumental. It is, also, the most beautiful composition on the LP.
The symphonic closing track is a unique song on an album of incredibly diverse tracks. Flora Cash’s ability to make compelling songs in so many different genres is one of their strengths and makes Behind Every Beautiful Thing a consistently interesting listen. Whether you enjoy every turn the album takes, the only sure thing is that the band won’t stay in one place too long. It is worth taking the journey with them.
Rating: 5.8/10
