Flora Cash is the soothing Swedish-American duo made famous from the 2017 rock radio hit “You’re Somebody Else”. The heart-piercing single resonated with a large audience by touching on the lingering feelings leftover after love runs out. Whether the end of love is abrupt or drawn out, it is usually messy, and afterward, there is still plenty of tender care remaining for the other person. The single from 2017 appears on Flora Cash’s latest release, Baby, It’s Okay, with the sophomore album echoing similar sentiments of post-love shock. The two lead artists make a tender duet, balancing on the precipice of enduring love and falling apart. Like the hit song that preceded it, the accompanying album is beautiful through its sadness, being both somber and uplifting.
Getting over heartbreak takes time, and Flora Cash examines the lingering reminders of love from a relationship that is no longer there. Their music is beautiful in its delicacy. Shpresa Lleshaj’s and Cole Randall’s voices bounce off each other in close harmony like an angel ruminating on the trials of a romantic. The pace of Baby, It’s Okay is graceful, more geared for listening when seated, or dancing very slowly with an on-and-off love. The target audience is someone growing out of the ashes of a previous relationship, but for those still steadfast in love, the stories described in songs like “Missing Home” also reflect the joys of returning to each other after a long day of making it work.
Heartstrings are pulled especially tight because of the shared guilt from being at least partially responsible for the lovely union’s dissolution. Songs like “You Love Me” and “I Wasted You” add an extra layer of depth by reflecting on how the person left behind is actually quite admirable. Flora Cash regularly sings about the complexities of being in love with someone they walked away from. Their portrayal of love is seasoned by today’s times, where breakups and divorces are part of growing up. Especially considering that their previous album was titled, Nothing Lasts Forever (And It’s Fine), their music is resonating with a generation not looking for a fairy tale ending, but who still want to remember the past fondly.
Flora Cash’s music belongs in a similar category as CHVRCHES, with a haunting beauty on top of calming electro-pop. The two bands both appear on the soundtrack to Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding, a game about re-establishing communication in the wake of a cataclysmic event. In a similar light, Flora Cash’s album Baby, It’s Okay is sad in the right way by finding shards of beauty among the shattered ruins.
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