Flowers For Juno – marisa.wav

Flowers For Juno – marisa.wav – Single Review

I shall start this review by saying YUCK.  I can’t stand hearing from myself day after day as of late, and I cannot fathom how any artist or band would want a seemingly endless string of commentary from me about their music.  This will be the sixth time I’ve written about Flowers For Juno in as many months, which is…one…two…uh…four…six…yeah…six times too many reviews…at least from my perspective.

That’s crazy, right?  I know, I know – usually I cut things off at some point in these situations, because I can’t stand repeating myself, and whenever I feel like I’m living in the movie Groundhog Day, I usually want to run far, far away.  Yet here we are, doin’ the thing, again.  It’s kinda one thing when an artist or band is utilizing the advice I’ve got for’em, and another thing entirely when a band is content to keep on doin’ their own thing…one scenario makes sense for seeking commentary, and the other…just doesn’t?

In any event, I pushed play on “marisa.wav” and wanted to smash my motherfuckin’ keyboard against the wall.  DAMN YOU Flowers For Juno!  I would LOVE a reason or two to STOP listening to this band & tell’em they’ve had more than enough of whatever pointless shit I’ve got to say, but whenever I push play on their music, I get stuck in this trap of really digging what they do.  Like, obviously “marisa.wav” is a lateral move based on the whole not taking advice or doing much differently scenario I’ve already outlined above…but what else can be said?  More of a good thing can be a great thing.  As their signature melted-tape-left-out-in-the-sun sound started up on “marisa.wav” I could feel that familiar spine-tingling specialness I associate with this strangely addictive, sensory sound FFJ creates.  Like, it’s outright confounding to a degree…the recipe hardly ever changes all that much, but it does just enough that somehow the results continue to interest me.  The masked lyricism of the mind behind the music, Benjó James sounds as intriguing & enticing as ever, drawing on the same kinds of method and approach that made previous singles like “Dolphin Girl” so bloody brilliant.  He’s not singing in English this time around either…but I don’t know that Google’s translate function is helping me out all that much – according to the two lines I’ve put in there (there are only two repeated throughout the entire song), one is in Corsican, and the other is in Portuguese.  It strikes me as a bizarre choice to be singing in two languages in a song that only contains two lines, so I’m thinking technology is working against me here as I’m writing this review, but what do I know?  I speak one language, and barely capable of doing that.  Anyhow.  Once again, I have no choice but to give credit where credit is due – I really like what I hear from Flowers For Juno on “marisa.wav” for the most part, and personally I love the shrouded vocals.  It really ends up making Benjó’s voice more of a melodic instrument in the music that complements the instrumentation, rather than what you’d hear from a typical frontman that just wants to hog the center of the spotlight.  He’s not exactly relegated to the background either, but his voice isn’t necessarily going to be the dominant trait for every listener.  Instead, you get a very balanced approach that hits you on a sensory level straight across the board…and I like that.  I don’t know that I love the pitch-shift around the 2:10 mark as a way of moving the song forward…I don’t hate it either, but it’s a move that doesn’t seem to have an inspired spark or any creativity behind it, so much as it’s simply something that can be done.  Making moves for the sake of making moves isn’t usually the move I’d suggest anyone to make.  As for the rest however, it’s another unquestionably excellent link in the chain of FFJ’s continuity overall.

This single also contains the song “Electro Hippies” – again…and at this point I have to wonder if they’re doing this for themselves, for their fans, or to me directly.  The middle of this cut has become the bane of my existence.  The rest is solid, but they’ve already heard my commentary on this song…several times.  *cough *cough

If you want to know what ambient perfection sounds like though, then clear out some space at the top of your playlist for “Helluland,” which I think probably just claimed the honor and distinction of being my favorite Flowers For Juno song that I’ve heard to-date.  Ambient music is always tough to explain to folks that don’t regularly listen to the genre, but long story short, it’s always much more about the feeling that you get when you listen to it, more than it tends to be about any one individual component it has.  Like, there’s no singular piece you can cite as the difference maker, and by that very same token, there’s no part of it that you’d dare remove either…”Helluland” is as complete as complete can be, blessed by an odd melodic balance and meditative, peaceful serenity that is far more elusive than you could ever imagine.  Artists and bands can try to attempt to make something like this for years and fail miserably short of the mark.  The extremely lucky can stumble into something like this as a happy accident, but it’s rare.  Somewhere in the fog of the ether, and quite likely a drink or seven, James managed to capture this outright sensational moment in time & now I don’t want to listen to anything else for the rest of this month!  You see the conundrum I’m in?  How could I possibly quit listening to Flowers For Juno when the music is capable of sounding as awe-inspiring as this song does?  I’m sure Marisa is cool and all, but the main star of the show is undoubtedly “Helluland” here.  Hell, it’s strong enough that I’d be seriously reconsidering my whole direction as an artist or band if this came out in a recording.  No joke folks, if I could inject this one straight into the ol’ veins, I’d be main-lining this one in a heartbeat until I was happily in a blissful coma filled with the colorful sound of “Helluland,” with big kaleidoscopic pupils all dilated and grinning like an idiot I’m sure.  How much do I love this song?  I’ll put it to you this way – I even love the extended ending it has, where there’s basically twenty-five seconds of silence at the end.  It’s NOT silence though…and that’s the beauty of ambient music…it’s like…you know…the kind of sound you’d expect to hear in your old tape deck as it hisses to the end on the unusable portion of the cassette at the start or end of an album you’re listening to.  And it’s fucking magical to hear that right now.  Rare.  My ears could eat it by the bowlful.  “Helluland” reminds me of everything I love about Boards Of Canada, it’s a significant breakthrough in the music of Flowers For Juno, and it’s absolutely one of the best songs I’ve heard in all of 2026 so far.  While Benjó’s vocals are sure to always be an enticing element of FFJ’s music, “Helluland” is full proof that this band doesn’t need a single word, in Corsican, Portugese, or otherwise to get your attention – what’s happening in the core of the music is incredibly unique and special beyond what anyone could ever say.  With potential this monumental for the future ahead, there’s no way I could quit listening to Flowers For Juno…because goddamn…”Helluland” made the journey to get here completely worth it.

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

Click this link right here to be the next artist or band featured here at sleepingbagstudios, because hey – why not?  All the cool kids are doing it.