ALBUM REVIEW: FLORENCE SOMMERVILLE - ENDLESS HORIZON

It was October 2023 when #TEAMw21 wrote about Florence Sommerville's first single, since then it has been a roller coaster ride of experiences packed into less than two years culminating in "Endless Horizon" her debut album. Already firmly established as an accomplished solo performer, there will no doubt be a lot of people looking at this album to find out what all the fuss is about.

For an album called "Endless Horizon", Florence appears to be in jail cell, looking at the cover. It's an album split 50/50 between self compositions and co writes though as to which are which may come as something as a surprise, as you work your way through. Produced by Alan West and with his seasoned band providing the backing there is a lot to enjoy.

The album opens with it's lead single "(I'll Be Your ) Best Broken Heart". Florence's somewhat bashful persona from "On My Way" her debut single, has also been drastically overhauled on this song as she turns into totally different beast!

Co-written with among others, a name very familiar to #TEAMw21, Shantell Ogden. It has very much the feel of a live band playing in a big space. As the band kick in, from the off, there is a solid back beat along with delightful keyboard sounds of piano and organ and a mixture of guitars. It certainly sets the scene for Florence to unveil her new, more forward self. some sort of travelling femme fatale.

"I've seen that look before

I know what you are falling for

You better reel it in

Cos what you wanting I can't give

I'm not the picket fence kind

Wish I was, but I'm not gonna lie"

Florence's initial vocals are quite restrained as her persona has a weary "I've been through this before" vibe for much of of the opening verse, it is only as she approaches the chorus that she starts to rev up and go through the vocal gears. The final line hints at some wish of domestic bliss, but nothing else in the song particularly seems to allude to this hankering for a quiet life. Instead the reason for her reticence to get seriously involved is more laid out in the chorus.

"I'm here for a season - I'm known for loving and leaving

I've got a gypsy soul, that's something that you need to know

I'm all in for the moment, I'll be the best thing you have going

Even when I leave a mark, I'll be your Best Broken Heart"

The chorus itself sees a more forthright delivery from Florence.

This peculiar travelling heart breaker lives by her own rules

"This is how I love - It's ok, if that's not enough

It's all up to you, just wanted you to know what you're getting into"

and as if it needed reinforcing - Florence vocals ramp up further to enforce the lines that define her character in this song.

"Nobody's going to tame me

 Nobody's going to change me

 Don't need nobody to save me"

If the opener is a work of fiction then "Fearless" reads as an early autobiography. detailing a number of calamities in her early life. From Florence's live sets, it is the song you are undoubtedly most likely to find yourself humming later in the week. This version initially plays out over Florence's acoustic guitar some percussion and an accordion

"I bet Jim and my bike could fly - ended up with a three inch scar

Swore up and down that I could drive, and put a big old dent in my Daddy's car

Climbed out my bedroom window, to meet a boy at 2am

Fell off the roof and broke my arm, trying to climb back in"

The chorus is somewhat Florence's theme song

"You may say I'm way to young, for all the stupid things I've done

Without mistakes, life's no fun

So one by one I'm making them

If there's chances I'm taking them

If there's rules well I'm breaking them

They say "No" and I say "Yes"

I have always been fearless"

It plays out to a sort of Old Crow Medicine Show backing with fiddles and joyful mandolins, which seems a little quaint and at odds with tales of downtown Essex, but it is an unstoppable song nonetheless.

"Got quite an impressive list - of temptations I could not resist

But I got a lot more temptations to go, and I'm not going to run cos I know"

"Overton" is the first Florence solo composition on the album, and listening to it after recently watching a documentary about Nanci Griffiths, her presence hangs over this track which is no bad thing. With a strong narrative, spanning many years, Florence expertly guides us through, even throwing in an unexpected plot twist towards the end. An undoubted gem.

On it's initial release as a single, "Broken Pieces" was the first of Florence's singles that we struggled to like. Even now the last minute seems superfluous where little of note really happens however perhaps for the rest is maybe due a reassessment.

it opens to a mid tempo blues and finds Florence in a scathing mood

"You set yourself on fire,

Go fast enough and you might outrun the flames

Give in to your desire

Flee fast enough and you might outrun the shame"

The chorus finds Florence being hit by the reality of the situation she finds herself in.

"I could walk around town saying how much you care

And tell my Mama that you'll always be there

But I don't now if I believe it - I'm seeing broken pieces"

The second verse sees Florence on the offensive

"Don't want to be a town cryer - but I want everyone to know just what you are

Cos I could lie and lie and lie - but you'd still hang me out to dry dry dry"

There was no such concerns with the previous single "California" a marvellously wordy concoction matched to a tune that somehow feels timeless, as if must already know it, yet if you do, it cunningly evades you!

"It's 10 o'clock on a Tuesday morning

Someone's yelling that the coffee's just too damned hot

Make it stop

As I pour another cup, you burst in

Saying all the things that I wished you would've said

That's the movie in my head"

There's a curious mix in that first verse, from the exact timing of the opening line, and that unsettling mundane argument happening at a time when Florence clearly has other things on her mind, before leaving us with the pay off, that it is some sort of daydream. Florence's phrasing sees the lines beautifully blur together

The chorus is pure escapism, and where better to escape to, with "California" idealised in the reflection of the wing mirror on the cover picture featuring a tiny pair of discarded cowboy boots, to tie in with the chorus

"I could drive down to California, ignore that I'm blue

Stare at the shoreline, take a walk with no shoes

Get out of this day today

Let my life go a different way

I've got nothing left to lose

Finding me without you"

The second verse is a contrasting before and after summation, the first half still fondly recalling the good times of the past, while the latter describes the present, cleverly tying in with the first half by using the word "drench" but as a means to describe sunshine rather than rain.

"I used to love the rain, I didn't mind the cold

You'd hold me in your arms and

You would keep me warm

Sheltered from the storm

All I want is sun, drench me in the light

I'd go for late nights on the walk of fame

To wash away the pain

To get over you"

It just leaves Florence to ponder one last quandary

"Could I drop everything

And follow my dreams?

Is the ocean as big as it is seems?"

The final chorus features a majestic combination between singer and band who put in a sterling performance throughout, before just gently fading after the repetition of the final line.There's lot to admire here, from the backing vocals on the chorus, through the clever word play making it another of the stand out tracks.

"Out Where The Love Grows" finds us back in autobiographical mode again, telling tales of the wilds of Essex. It is slightly odd hearing hearing a backing that could be set to describe a remote small town in the US, playing out to words describing somewhere but a short hop around the M25 but it works.

"The only reason people come here is to drive right through

Our main attraction is that there's nothing much to do"

For US performers, a song about escaping their dead end small towns, is almost a rite of passage, Florence takes the contrary view and finds delight in the mundane nothingness.

"Sure we've got the Post Office, red box out the front

Got a little church, it's needing a little love

So much this place has seen

So much of this place in me"

It's a fond portrait of her home village, relishing the quiet and mundane life that it offers, and accepting that it has helped shape her.

"Village fete in the summer, Christmas market when it's cold

So long since I've been here, feeling it never grows old

When you need reminding of who you are

This place brings you back like a guiding star"

It has even become the focal point for the villagers to rally round as they fight against a major development that threatens all the Florence has so eloquently described.

For an album front loaded with singles, there is always the worry that the second half might tail off a bit, in Florence's case this is palpably not true, if anything things get better.

"Silly Little Things" opens to jangly guitar work that is the quiet star of the track, cut through by a crisp back beat and pedal steel guitar. It's a subtle little post break up song, and made all the more powerful for Florence's small incise observations of the nagging little reminders that she is no longer in a relationship.

"Woke up today I was feeling totally fine

Ready for a clean slate, want to leave you behind

All i wanted was a cup of coffee and get out the door

But that stupid pot, don't know that you're not

Here anymore"

The chorus is delightful with Florence's phrasing, and lyrics like "You haunt my memories" really bringing home the feeling of constantly being reminded of someone. The ramp up in volume and the well worked clever instrumental fade make this a delight.

In a total change of pace and sound "Forget The Water" sees Florence perform with just her guitar although with the inventive vocal lines, there is much to take for another song of sadness, a woman trapped in a loveless relationship with an alcoholic, she knows she should leave but somehow can't - "in denial".

"All those sweet nothing, empty words you said

Really mean nothing now but the liquor on your breath

Wishing your hands were shaking cos your nervous

Now I don't even know the stranger lying in my bed"

My sober eyes can see

It's the only time you miss me"

Beautifully observed, with any number of quotable lines that make this situation believable as it plays out before us.

The trail of damage is laid bare

"Pulls you under, drags you down

Gets into the blood in your veins

Holds you under till you almost drown

And I'm just slipping away"

"Love Me Then" is a tale of unrequited love, which is a combination of exquisite guitar work matched to the forlorn lyrics of Florence unable to stir the affections of the one she is after.

There is undoubtedly something clunky about the word "Molasses", it seems the least musical word ever, fortunately though the song it is housed within is so good, with it's sultry, moody Fleetwood Mac atmosphere, it somehow works.

Lyrically we are thrust immediately into the action. with Florence finding herself once more in a dilemma

"Stuck stuck here like molasses, lies

Fingerprints on the glasses

You tell me that you'll go

You tell me that you won't

I don't know if I care either way"

Strangely the more that Florence protests that she doesn't know what to do - the answer from afar seems ever clearer

"Don't know anymore if I even want to play

Cos every time I win you start to change the game

What happened to make you his way?"

The percussion and wailing guitar all work to make a slightly unsettling background and the narcissistic descriptions seem to echo a certain type of male worryingly prevalent in today's society.

"You're so in love, with the control you have over my mind

You're so involved in your own life, you can't even see mine

So go stay gone, don't taunt, me anymore"

Building to a stunning realisation results in on one of the vocal highlights of the whole record delivered with venom and power.

"I don't ever want to be the person I was that you made

I don't ever want to be known like I was by your last name"

However there's a certain mournful element to Florence's vocals in the repetition of the final line

"Stuck stuck here like molasses"

that suggest escape is not about to happen anytime soon

The main album closes with "Cut and Run", arguably the best track of the collection, that sees both Florence and the band seemingly freed of expectations and both give their all on this rocker. It matches verses that crackle with potential excitement over a purring backing with an exploding rocking chorus with both band and singer giving their all.

"You're sweet and you're charming

You're not disarming

You talk in this intellectual way

We met by chance, think I only got in one glance

Of your smiling before you drove away

Now your messages are in my inbox

How do I reply?

Can't seem to remember how I know you talk

Just feel like asking why"

It leads to the most carefree rocking moments of the album. where the freedom of the playing matches the heady excitement of these opposites attracting.

"What about if baby, what if we just went away

Leave the questions and the answers for another day"

It's a perfect way to bow out, leaving the audience clamouring for more!!

Except .......

For those purchasing the CD, there are a further 4 acoustic tracks to take in. "Whiskey In The Morning" is the tale of someone "drinking away his life". The lyrics paint someone with very selective tastes with a mix of Whiskey, Brandy, Tequila and Beer making up their daily consumption. however without any context as to why he is in this predicament it seems a little lacking in depth. It is undoubtedly delivered with some gusto which helps elevate it. News of a another cover of "Landslide" might raise a weary eyebrow or two from the UK Americana community as it has become something of a go to in recent years. Florence's version though, which is slightly slowed and seems to extract something new out of this old warhorse. An unlikely cover from Florence's live set in the shape of Guns & Roses "Sweet Child Of Mine" makes for an interesting listen, even if does reveal the lyrics to be a little wimpy once separated from Slash's inimitable guitar line. The final track "Love Me Then" is an acoustic version of the regular album track of unrequited love.

It all makes or a rather splendid package, Florence Sommerville proves herself to be equally at ease whether performing personal close to home songs, or weaving tales of life's up and downs. She has an insightful eye for a telling observation, and a skill with her vocal phrasing that can enhance any song. Adept at singing heartfelt ballad or letting rip on the occasional rocker - the future looks most definitely promising.

Florence Sommerville will be appearing at Country Calling UK Aug 15/16th Hylands Estate