Last week, the newest single from Flower Face found me. It’s called “If I Beg You”, and while the song has a lovely acoustic indie-folk sound to it when it starts, it gets progressively more intense as the lyrics become more sinister and cynical:
Montreal-based Flower Face (aka Ruby McKinnon) has a much larger following than the artists that I usually feature here, but her recent releases are weird and amazing and too good not to feature (plus: my house my rules). I’d heard some of her music before, but it somehow failed to connect. Better late than never.
“If I Beg You” was the song that grabbed my focus, and I’m glad it did. Friday afternoon I put on her latest EP, August’s Maniac, and I couldn’t turn it off. The whole EP is a stunner. Sufjan Stevens-ish breathy, sometimes saccharine vocals and folky guitars, and lyrics that’ll peel the paint off the walls. Here are the first words to the first song on it, also called “Maniac”:
If I’m being honest, I don’t want you to be happy/I want you to suffer, now what does that say about me?
You’re driving me crazy, you make me stupid/And you make me lazy, I make you mean
And God, I’m so tired, and you’re stilli a liar/After years of therapy
And what a video:
So let’s back up, because the order of things matters. This is all in the runup to a new record called Girl Prometheus that’s due out November 1. Things kicked off back in April, and it all ties together in a fun way.
Here’s a recent interview in Stereogum that digs into her story and sets up this record:
Montreal’s Ruby McKinnon has been building up the mythology around her upcoming album with Polaroids, drink recipes, a loveline, and poems.
…
The opener “Biblical Love” begins as an acoustic daydream as McKinnon whispers startling confessions: “I want to be untouched and clean/ Till you follow me home/ And you take that from me.” After a minute and a half, the tame sound is ruptured, the song plunging into an dazzlingly unexpected violent outburst. Girl Prometheus is packed with similar twists and turns that encapsulate the treacherous motions of lovesickness.
Here’s the first video from this release cycle, from back in April 2024. It’s called “Cat’s Cradle”, and there’s a whole first-year thesis to be written about what’s going on in this video:
Flower Face’s recent videos are all related — all but “If I Beg You” take place in the same spot, using the same sparse furniture, CRT television, and creepy lighting. They’re cinematic, moody and creepy — some perfect October listening and watching. It looks like there’s a story being told here: I wonder if the full record will pull all these loose ends together in a single narrative. Here’s one more video, for “Valentine” – I love the song and the video just matches it perfectly:
If the Stereogum piece is to be believed, Flower Face’s new record has more surprises up its sleeve (zing). It comes out November 1, the Day of the Dead. Whoever had that idea deserves a high five.
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