Track listing: Buckcherry Wrote a Song About Girls Like You, I go to strip clubs but just for the music, Dolphin Girl, Strippernaut, Crack Den Blues
Flowers for Juno creator Benjó James spoke with Coyote Music about the new EP The Rite of Spring. Read it. It's something! I'll give an outsiders perspective on the sound and mood here, though...and it's certainly not all whiskey and roses. Or maybe that's exactly what it is...if you're into that sorta thing.
Let's start with the opening track "Buckcherry Wrote a Song About Girls Like You":
Yeah you’re a crazy slut
Want your boyfriend to be a cuck
Want me to degrade you
Want me to enslave you
Is that arousing? Offensive? Ridiculous? Piquing your curiosity? Exactly. Flowers for Juno exists in that space. Alluring to some, boring to others. Maybe even hideous to the new souls out there. Then you move right on to "I go to strip clubs but just for the music":
Blonde hair, thong underwear, big tits
She loves it when I call her dirty bitch
When you get down to brass tacks, it's a similar exploration of human norms, limits, excesses, and the challenging of our common accepted values as what happened in my musical exploratory phase back in the 80s. Pornography is subjective. "Dirty" is a matter of perspective. And "kinky"? That can be anything from a BDSM fantasy to Harvey Fierstein's delightful musical about the masculinity and femininity of simple footwear.
James describes his home studio as "the rock n' roll cliche of empty whiskey bottles and underwear women have discarded...but without the romance. Complete squalor." How does that make you feel? There's no wrong answer. But what is undeniable is that the answer is going to depend more on who provides it than what the reality actually is.
The Rite of Spring is an exercise in Flowers for Juno's musical haze. A state of mind best tapped into during immersion in the aforementioned squalor. A product of one's surroundings. This collection of songs is atmospheric. You can feel it on your skin. You can even smell it.
The musical exception is "Strippernaut"--a rhythmic improvisational moment that provides a moment of relief from synth-laden background of the rest of the EP. Go ahead: Dance! Get funky! But only for a 95-second interlude--there's debauchery left, yet to be explored.
Your exploration can begin and return to our Flowers for Juno hub has a home base. There you'll find all things good, bad, sticky, sweet, sweaty, and probably just a little bit drunk that might be of use during your FFJ listening sessions.