Jellywish

The album’s consistent tempo and tone end up making Jellywish feel strangely longer than its concise 34-minute runtime. But, when the band cuts loose a little, such as the lead guitar breaks on “This Was A Gift” and “All the Same Light,” it’s tantalizing to imagine where Jellywish may have ventured given more of a loose rein and a sense of adventure.

Musically, Jellywish follows an understated path. The adept finger picking of “Levitate” gives way to gently insistent toms on “Have Heaven,” along with Sprague’s soft playground patter of a chorus.

Her lyrics mostly return to subjects she has revisited so many times that, on Jellywish, she also reflects on her weariness of talking about them: grief, death, and mortality. Here, though, even these topics are part of the record’s life-affirming warmth.

The record prompts leaning in, not least of all for the gentle, cantering insistence of "Have Heaven" and "Our Hearts In A Room", with its soft piano and brush work. [Apr 2025, p.29]

What makes Jellywish so often profound and not just sad or mindful is a combination of candid simplicity and hints of the supernatural.

The production is lightly touched, but the record leans greatly into Florist’s best asset: Sprague’s confessional songwriting. While some of the verses get jumbled in her stream-of-consciousness style, the stories still disarm, ache, and impress.