Brooklyn-based indie-folk group Florist released their fifth studio album, Jellywish, on April 4, 2025 via Double Double Whammy. Cloaked in a minimalist yet mystical atmosphere, the record unfolds as a sonic journey through grief, mortality, and the everyday miracles that shape our lives.
🌙 Thematic Landscape
Frontwoman Emily Sprague cites the idea of “thin places” as the album’s core inspiration—those spiritual thresholds where the boundary between life and what lies beyond grows faint. The album’s title is a poetic wordplay—“jellyfish” + “jellywish”—suggesting a fluid metaphor that’s at once tangible and abstract.
🎧 A Track-by-Track Journey
- “Levitate” – A quiet yet captivating opener. Acoustic guitars and whispered vocals reflect everyday anxieties in delicate balance.
- “Have Heaven” – A spellbinding atmosphere crafted through soft drums, gentle synths, and the distant echo of a flute. It hovers between hope and sorrow.
- “Jellyfish” – Rich in instrumental textures; water and natural field recordings blend with ambient noise, echoing the wild sonic aura of confronting death.
- “Sparkle Song” & “Our Hearts in a Room” – Celebrate the tender strength of small daily moments. Vocal harmonies radiate warmth and communal grace.
- “All the Same Light” – Starts as a gentle acoustic ballad, then unfurls into digital distortion, pushing the album’s structural and emotional limits.
- “Gloom Designs” – A profound closer. Ambient loops and raw lyrical mourning converge, nodding to both ecological reckoning and personal loss.
🎙️ Production & Artistic Touch
The album was entirely self-produced by Florist members—Emily Sprague (vocals/guitar), Rick Spataro (bass/keys), Jonnie Baker (guitar), and Felix Walworth (drums). This lends the project a sense of intimacy and emotional closeness. The recording features analog warmth, carefully negotiated sonic space, and organic details like nature sounds woven seamlessly into the textures.
📰 Critical Reception
- Pitchfork: Rated it 8.1, praising its “wide-eyed awe” in capturing everyday wonder.
- Post-Trash: Called it “a peak release—pure, sweet, but also sorrowful.”
- Atwood Magazine: Described it as “not humorous, but a compassionate call… like a lifelong friend to the independent listener.”
- Alt Revue: Recommended it as a deep-listening gem for new listeners.
- Metacritic: Averaged a score of 85%, signaling strong critical acclaim.
✨ Why It Stands Out
Jellywish places death, grief, and fleeting beauty side by side. With its minimalist, ambient, and organic-folk structure, the album carries intense emotional weight while offering a rare kind of spiritual communication. Rather than simply preserving their established aesthetic, Florist evolves it—adding freshness without losing soul.
🎧 Conclusion
Florist – Jellywish is an album that radiates sincerity, blending acoustic purity with ambient depth. It asks existential questions while celebrating quiet, universal wonders of life. Deep yet accessible, serene yet resonant, Jellywish leaves an unmistakable mark on the indie-folk scene of 2025—both musically and soulfully.
