Ferdinand de Saussure would have a field day with Florist’s lyrics on The Birds Outside Sang. The father of structuralism based his school of literary criticism on binary oppositions and the band’s Double Double Whammy debut abounds with them. Bandleader Emily Sprague builds tension by juxtaposing themes like childhood and adulthood, hope and doubt, gender and sexuality and life and death, which drive the forward momentum of the album. Darkness and light permeate the album as Sprague explores her mortality following a serious bicycle accident that left her bedridden with a broken arm and neck.
The listener follows Sprague, who began the recording while convalescing, through her struggle to get well and in this way the songs form a concept album about rebirth. Healing is not a straightforward process, and a triumphant exclamation like on track “I Was” (“I found a love that’s here to stay”) can segue into a defeatist confession like on “Rings Grow” (“I used to think I was leaves but I’m bark and I’m peeling away”).
Of the albums 12 tracks, half were recorded solo by Sprague and half with the help of bandmates Felix Walworth, Jonnie Baker and Rick Spataro. Apart from the sea of vocals, it’s not always evident which tracks are solo ventures and which aren’t. The music is often minimal, relying on Sprague’s vocals—which creak like a basement step— to tell a story; or as Sprague told Rookie, “Florist songs are fairly simple and don’t have a lot of tracks on them.”