Flowertown - s/t

Originally released as two EPs on cassette last year, the 'lockdown project' of Cindy's Karina Gill and Michael Ramos from Tony Jay has now been compiled onto one LP by Mt St Mtn, and provides yet more evidence of the brilliantly self-sustaining current San Fran scene. Gill's phrasing remains unmistakable and entirely her own, so it's inevitable that aspects of Cindy have bled into the Flowertown songs, a naturalistic recasting of moonlit slowcore lullabies and Paisley Underground styled 60s devotionals with no little Velvets-style pop-chug. Where Flowertown becomes its own project is in the intersecting of Gill and Ramos' voices, either trading lines like some old (lost) soul revue or occasionally harmonising in shared desperation. These are melodic and infectious songs that, like Garbage and the Flowers or early Yo La Tengo, hide quiet truths and subtle revelations, the parochial observations of 'Flowertown' (which is a cracking alternative name for San Fran!) conduits to unexpected epiphanies. Because they were recorded to a 4-track in a basement during what was undoubtedly some difficult months last year, it's inevitable that Flowertown's charms remain buried in lo-fi hiss and static. But this is also the source of their beauty, too - you must lean in closer to divine their power. Begone emotional distancing. Edition of 600.