firlies - Elephant

firlies

Elephant
​self-released; 2022

3.7 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

A. Firlie aka firlies is an Ohio based singer/songwriter who recently released a three-song EP entitled Elephant. They came to music early when their parents handed them a violin-shaped cracker jack box at the tender age of three. The artist's concern later on was feeling claustrophobic with the notion that having many loves and interests means watering each of them down to a lack of promise. I get that. Are you a jack of all trades and a master of none?

The EP starts “casamento” and you are greeted with acoustic guitar picking. Right off the bat the song has a sense of intimacy from the production. The vocals are a little above a whisper when they sing “You are the reason / You are the reason / I make my coffee every morning / drag my feet in the roaring song.” The vocals unexpectedly change language and then revert back to English which sounds like it’s mid sentence. It’s a warm, simple and pleasant song.

Up next is “blood wedding” which I think is a pretty cool name for a song. The song is built on a similar guitar pattern. There are vocal harmonies on his songs which were well mixed and delivered. The space in the song gives it a melancholy like quality but there was something joyful and inviting about the way the vocals were delivered. A little later in the song it transitions to more aggressively chord strumming. Although there was only one instrument I was impressed by the dynamics and it ended with a very lively vocal delivery. There are some poetic and engaging lyrics as well. One of my favorite lines was “Over and over and over it crumbles all down again / We sell it all short for man / Primordial ink and pen / How do we still dance in darkness avoiding the arrow's poke / Knee over your middle toe / Swallowing some rotten joke.”

Last up is “honestly” and it starts with simple root notes. The vocals are strong enough to carry the song. There is some sparse additional guitar work as well. The vocals are arguably the catchiest of the three and similar to the other songs there’s a warm melancholy. 

Firlies has been compared to the likes of Fleet Foxes, Basia Bulat, and Adrianne Lenker. I can hear the similarities and would say the most overt comparison is Lenker and her work on the album songs.

​The EP goes by quickly but was a small appetizer of hopefully what’s to come from the talented artist. It felt honest, heartfelt and emotive. Take a listen.

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