Flowers For Juno – Dolphin Girl

Flowers For Juno – Dolphin Girl – Single Review

C’mon now…in the modern-day music era, ain’t a three-song single just called an EP nowadays?

I’ll let it slide.  Flowers For Juno is goin’ old school with it, and that’s my jam.  I’m from that distant time where I’d pay $34.99 for a CD single of my favorite bands and artists to get a song that I’d already have had on the official record, but two additional rare tracks that you couldn’t find anywhere else on Earth.  Boy am I ever glad the internet and digital age didn’t make me look foolish for spending all that dough!

Anyhow.  You might remember the name Flowers For Juno from a review we did back in 2023 for the single “Physical Culture.”  If not, you might know it from all the other music that Flowers For Juno has released between now and then, of which there is plenty online.  Heck…a quick scan over the Spotify page will confirm that it’s been a busy year for Benjó James (Vocals, Keys, Guitars, Programming and much more, I assure ya) and his crew…I think there’s like, what…three other singles and an EP that have already come out this year?  Lots of tunes for you to catch up on from the years before that too, so get goin’ on that.  For now, I’ve been chewin’ on this Dolphin Girl single for the past several days…I dig it.

I kinda figured I would…I remember really liking “Physical Culture” when it came out, so I assumed that the odds were ever in my favor when I pushed play.  I don’t know that I was expecting to like all three tracks and for the different reasons that I do, but I did think there was at least a good chance I’d like the main featured cut from the bunch.  With Tyrion ‘Bigfoot’ Jackson slappin’ da bass for ya, the stunningly warped sound of “Dolphin Girl” plays like something straight outta the cassette days…and yeah, I’m here for that.  I remember those well…they were long before I paid all that money for all those CD’s I mentioned earlier on, but I digress.  I like the vocal samples and such at the start and the atmosphere that Benjó establishes quickly…”Dolphin Girl” is one of those tunes that’s able to really find a striking balance between being ultra-hazy and crystal clear at the same time, which speaks a lot on behalf of the skills James brings to his music in its production.  From what I’ve been reading, he gets lumped in with the Goth Rock crowd a lot for the sound & such…don’t know that I’d quite go that far myself if I was to just be judging from “Dolphin Girl” – it might be Goth-adjacent I suppose, but it’s actually got more in common with New Wave and Post Punk than anything else, at least in my opinion.  In any event, whether it’s the doom and gloom of Joy Division that you dig on, or the swirled elements that would adorn the work of The Cure’s music, or the synthetic sounding bass line bounce that you’d find in something like Gary Numan’s tunes…a track like “Dolphin Girl” would fit in somewhere around there.  I can live with the Shoegaze comparisons that Flowers For Juno gets…I can hear and understand why they would be a part of that community, and hell, I’d vote to support that.  “Dolphin Girl” is the kind of song that could potentially be a big hit in the underground, yet never reach the masses until a decent stroke of viral luck or being featured in the right spot of a hit show or film.  You listen to tracks like this, and they tend to feel fascinating as you listen, in that special way like a song that was written specifically for you would be, and no one else knows about it yet.  You know what I mean?  “Dolphin Girl” is that song you play for your other music-head friends when they come over and want to hear something they’ve never heard before that’ll blow their minds & earn you a serious degree of street cred at the same time.

Personally, I like the fact that I have no fucking clue what Benjó is singing about underneath the warble of the effects he’s using and the hollow reverb of the cavernous sound it all comes along with.  That’s not because I don’t wanna hear what he has to say or that I’m not interested in the lyrics – because sure, of course I am…I think it’s natural to be curious about things we can’t figure out for ourselves.  All I’m saying, is that it’s not always something I feel like I NEED when I’m listening to the music, or I’d never be listening to the Strokes or early R.E.M. records…and believe me when I tell ya, I listen to a shitload of both.  I’m of the mind that when you listen to a track like “Lipstick And Furs – Arbitrary Cash-In Edit,” you end up in a similar kind of experience, where it’s more about feeling, mood, and the atmosphere of the music as a whole, rather than any singular piece that helps to create it – make sense?  So it’s like, you end up in situations like this where a track like “Lipstick And Furs – Arbitrary Cash-In Edit,” or even “Dolphin Girl” before it basically become all-hook, because the entire experience is what sells you rather than a mere piece of it, you know what I mean?  You’re not going to a Flowers For Juno show and yelling at Benjó to get to the fucking chorus, because that’s not what this kind of music is about.  This is that kind of music where you appreciate all the strange and bizarre elements that shift & morph along the way to create something bigger than any individual piece of the instrumentation or single part of the songwriting.  I’d be the first to tell you there’s inherent risk with this method and approach…you end up with a much more memorable sound overall than songs people will be able to identify by name or distinguish one from the others…but there’s no right or wrong way to put your music out there into the world when it comes right down to it, and every method has advantages & disadvantages to it.  The only advice I’ve ever really given out in that regard is just stay true to doing what YOU like to do, create what YOU want to create, and for Christ’s sake, do the right thing by the songs that you’re writing.  In that respect, everything sounds in line with “Lipstick And Furs – Arbitrary Cash-In Edit” if you ask me…it’s got brilliant texture & potent tones that are like the soundtrack to the next car crash you’re about to be in, where time slows down to a crawl while you tumble beautifully in the air, having no clue when you’ll finally come to a stop.  So like…you get what’s essentially a really smooth ride through the bulk of this song that is actually quite gentle on ya when it comes to the real DNA at the core of the melody, but James finds noteworthy ways of livening things up through the sound-selection that he adds to the mix.

As far as “Lucozade And Vodka” is concerned, I can confirm that it is indeed, the third song on this single.  Is it the song you were waiting for?  Likely, no.  Is it the song that would have pissed a whole bunch of people off if they came from way back in my time and paid $34.99 for an imported CD with three songs on it and one of them was “Lucozade And Vodka?”  Likely, yes.  As I was saying…it’s the third cut…that’s basically all I can really confirm for ya…the rest of how you feel about it is likely going to be completely up to what you connect with in the music you listen to and your own personal preferences.  Do I like it?  Actually, yes.  Is it still a distant third compared to “Dolphin Girl” and “Lipstick And Furs – Arbitrary Cash-In Edit?”  Definitely.  It’s the third song on a single…but credit where credit is due, I don’t feel like it’s merely a throw-away cut or a filler track really either.  It’s a slight stylistic departure, but moves like this count for a lot in the long run if you ever want to shift your sound and have your fans come along with you…almost like “Lucozade And Vodka” becomes prerequisite listening for the future to follow, you get what I mean?  Personally I dig it…it’s like…jeez…I dunno…something like Boards Of Canada fused with something straight outta left field like Scritti Politti – how often are you going to stumble onto anything you’d hear described like that?  Now be real…you have no idea who Scritti Politti even is…I’m well aware of where you’re at dear readers, dear friends.  Go do your due diligence and track some of their music down and give it a spin…that’s your homework.  You’ll be surprised by how far ahead of their time they were with their synthetic Pop sound, but how much ground they would have broken for others just by the fact that they once existed.  OR…just hear me out here…you can assume that I’m tellin’ ya the truth and do what you’d normally do by ignoring all the shit I’m saying and just check out what “Luzocade And Vodka” sounds like instead.  No judgements here…you do what you do.

No issues detected here though…I like the music, I like the vocals, I like the sound, and I like the style – you can categorize it however you like to on your own time, but do the right thing and have a listen.  Clearly Benjó has a solid vision for what he wants Flowers For Juno to sound like, and knows how to execute – the Dolphin Girl single is solid all the way through.  Even if you don’t end up remembering the title of each track you’ll hear on it years later down the road, you’ll definitely remember listening to it.

Best to just call it an EP these days though…unless you wanna give all us $34.99’ers PTSD, and a shitload of buyer’s remorse.

Find out more about Flowers For Juno from the official page at Instagram here:  https://www.instagram.com/flowersforjuno

Ya ha!  This link right here is the key to being the next artist or band featured here at sleepingbagstudios, so instead of ignoring it, fucking click it!