Album Review: Kairos | Flowers for Juno

Today the Sanctum takes another dive into the gothic synthwave sonic world of Flowers for Juno, who are putting together their first full-length album entitled Kairos. This is a 14-track compilation of the band's previous works, pulling the listener into a dizzying, euphoric whirlwind of what can only be described as 80's synthwave clashing and mating with dark experimental goth...carried mostly by the "tape hiss" production and the heavy vocals. As frontman Benjó James put it, "I was imagining what a setlist for a Flowers for Juno gig might look like based on material I'd already released and figured I'd turn it into a compilation record to give new listeners something to start with."

Right out of the gate, we are given the instantaneous gut-punch of Electro Hippies, the signature sound of the band laid bare - a supersonic, guitar-heavy, almost mantra-like sonic delivery that brings the listener straight into the world of Flowers for Juno. It is gothic, heavily percussive and alarming, yet alluring in a sense. Think of the album as a body: Electro Hippies is the brain and everything after is what radiates outward from it. Message to Lana, Crack Den Blues and Lipstick in Furs are the opening set, acting as the nerve cords expanding from the brain, giving the listener a truly dark canvas to get the DNA of the world Juno is building. It is electrifying, it is haunting, it burrows deep into the mind almost like hypnosis. The symbiotic nature of vocal repetition and intense instrumentation leaves for an enticing, almost painful introduction.

The trio Buckcherry Wrote a Song About Girls Like You, I go to strip clubs but just for the music and Dolphin Girl continue on this path - raw grit jam-packed through vocal-layering and guitars like lightning caught in a jar mid-strike. The transition from I go to strip clubs but just for the music to Dolphin Girl, feels like being beamed up into an extraterrestrial hovercraft, impossible to escape. Physical Culture, It’s not my Fault and You're So Beautiful It Makes Me Sad sees the band do a quiet pivot. You can hear brand new approaches to Benjó's voice, pulling back into something softer, with guitars and melodies that lean cleaner and more open. There’s a levity and brightness introduced here that is just another part of the prism for Flowers for Juno - faint mixtures of underground '90's alternative rock creep into the more colorful moments, not unlike AFI's own turn from razor-edged punk into something more serene over the years. It's almost apparent on It's Not My Fault, where the vocals feel much more direct and less processed - like we're seeing Benjó for the first time.

The synapses and nerve endings begin to flutter through the ends of the body once the album reaches a collective grounding point at Just Like Honey, My Bloody Kisses and Without Love. The mixes add a layer of frosting that gives the whole cake, the foundation of the group this syrupy-sweet, kinder touch to their heavier material. All this punctuated by the ending, Pink Noise which can only be described as the final afterglow of this explosive journey, an instrumental haze that perfectly finishes off this collection of work.

Kairos refines the band’s signature sound into a complete body of work that takes the listener through the entire gamut of Flowers For Juno. A fully formed nervous system: brain, spine and nerve endings all fire at once, start to finish. Special thanks to the band for a record that forces the listener to actually think, sometimes very dark, sometimes very light - never predictable, just like the weather. Fittingly 'kairos' is also the Greek word for weather - an apt title for a record that shifts as restlessly as the weather itself.

Listen to Kairos here:

https://open.spotify.com/album/2EmBYjPa0RYG0Cvtjkh733?si=YTcluvXITGeAlHmUcP-90Q