Thanks Peregrine! ♡ for the recommendation
Flower Face - The Shark in Your Water
Trigger warning:
This album contains mentions of suicide and has a heavy focus on abusive relationships.
Track list and individual thoughts
𓆟 1. Spiracle 𓆟
This song sets the mood pretty well for the album. It's about wanting to love somebody completely, good and bad.
Favorite Line: "I want your parties, the shark in your waters, the scrapes on your knees, and the blood that spills over"
The instruments match the mood of the song very well, growing in complexity as the person want's to know more and more.
𓆟 2. Cornflower Blue 𓆟
This song is about loving so much that it's suffocating, it uses cornflower blue as an analog for asphyxiation. both partners are simultaneously the most precious and the most draining thing about each other's lives.
Favorite Line: “I won’t let you out of my sight, even when you're sleeping. So baby, take your medicine and promise me you’re eating”
Musically, this song is not the most engaging thing, which would usually lose points from me, but the subtext is so interesting, and it fits the tone so well, that I can't help but give it a pass, which is going to be a theme throughout these songs.
𓆟 3. Maybe 𓆟
This song is particularly uncomfortable, and brings with it the first mentions of one sided abuse, which is a huge topic that this album dwells on. I find myself unnerved by the "maybe" of going back to this person that obviously hurt you.
Favorite Line: "You loved me with your cross and your disease, did you feel that close to god when you had me on my knees"
This song was one of my favorites musically. it has an eerie synth that is present through the whole thing. The rising action on every chorus really emphasizes the choice, or the "maybe"
𓆟 4. Sugar Water 𓆟
This song is about her dependency. His attention is her sustenance. The smallest amount of attention is all she needs. Even if he hurts her regularly, and she dreams about him murdering her, she still wants the sugar water.
Favorite Line: “hangin’ round like a puppy ‘til you let me in, coming home with a black eye begging for you”
This song uses lighter synths with a grungy guitar. It sounds more upbeat, but it only sounds that way.
𓆟 5. Isobel 𓆟
Something interesting is that "Iso" is shorthand for isolation. The vocalist questions herself in this song. It touches a lot on absence, like reaching for someone who isn't there.
Favorite Line: "Do you start to miss the sadness when it goes away?"
The instruments make the song sound almost hollow, it adds instruments as the song goes on, and the instruments repeat themselves as the lyrics ask the same questions over and over again
𓆟 6. Paper Doll 𓆟
This song touches on the self sacrificing love that the vocalist feels, but also on the imbalance in their relationship. She gives everything, and he gives the bare minimum, or the "Sugar Water" if you would.
Favorite Line: "I would Burn alive for the soft glow on your face"
The instruments are very similar to Cornflower Blue, so I'll use this section to talk about Flower Face's use of violins as a backing instrument. Their use sets such a longing tone though the whole album, and for an instrument that never takes center stage, I feel this album would be so much worse without them.
𓆟 7. Back to You 𓆟
This song is weird. It switches between 3 POVs, a disapproving parent, the vocalist who chases after this toxic love, and the former partner, insulting the vocalist and offering sanctuary in the same breath.
Favorite Line: "Don't forget I'll never quite forgive you, but I'll pretend to"
Another instrumental that is subtle and simple. but again the tone is set so well that I can't fault it.
𓆟 8. October Birds 𓆟
This song focuses on the loss of autonomy that comes with being in a toxic relationship
The things that used to come easily (October Birds) Have flown away and been replaced by dependency.
Favorite Line: "I've laid here before and I'll lay here again, and I haven't seen war but I've tasted the sand"
Sports a very light backing track. basically just guitar and some spice.
𓆟 9. Pisces Moon 𓆟
This song is about justifications. justifying her longing for her ex-partner. He was an abuser, but she believes there was good in him. She also expresses her willingness to love one way, even if it hurts.
Favorite Line: "I survive on a second chance, I feel your love secondhand"
This one is a more calm hopeful track, which is not super tonally on brand for the album but it sets up for a huge subversion with....
𓆟 10. Bad Astrology 𓆟
This song hurts
This song encapsulates the anger and shame that comes with wanting to be in a relationship you know is abusive. Her partner was self destructive, but he hurt her when he crashed and burned. The "Bad Astrology" refers to their incompatibility
Favorite Line: "Don't want to be comfortable, I want to get hurt, and I hate that I know, and then I hate that it feels good"
This is the most intense song out of the whole album. Its guitar is angry, but not outwardly so. The whole song sounds like a huge jumble of emotions.
Closing Thoughts
This album made me cry, and that is to say it hit me in the feels. Sometimes the music itself was not the most interesting, but I can get over that in favor of the content.
I really like the metaphor of the shark below the surface as toxic relationships. the water looks good on the surface, but there is danger right below.
Would recommend, but go into this one with a clear mind, because it can be very painful.
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