Album Review: Dark Lullabies

Once again it seems that a band/artist I’m reviewing hails from Christchurch (the city has some serious talent I’m telling you). Formed only in 2017 Moonflower is made up of singer/songwriter/drummer Nicole Schaap with accompanying musicians Josh Fairless on guitar, Damon Thurlow on bass and Ethan Bryant on keys.

From the second the first track Open Your Eyes starts, Nicole’s voice starts playing over a softly played piano. One name springs to mind and that would be of the late but still great Amy Winehouse, now I’m not saying Nicole sounds exactly like the late soul singer but she has the same quality to her voice that complements lyrics such as “she danced and sung and took the pills down, the mask she wore was hiding her frown” so unbelievably well.

Another track I want to talk about is I’ve Reached The Bottom – this is a slower song filled with almost mourning melodic notes that hint at a similar vocal style of early Adele.
This song struck a chord with me in such a beautifully emotional way that I simply could not find the words to fully describe it, but instead I insist that you simply go listen to it yourself “it’s an awful day, when you can’t stand the pain, sitting around, will make you go insane.”

Honestly it’s not very often that I can’t find the words to describe a piece of music, but that’s what this track has done to me, it’s amazing and my personal favourite on the entire album.

Track number 6 on the album is titled Have Some Love and the message I took way from listening to this one is that the first (and every) time that everyone goes through dark times in their lives - while people around you might be trying to help they can only do so much but the people who love and care about you will always remind you that you are loved; “Mother oh Mother, Please take my hand, I’ll help you through this battle land. Sister, daughter, your best friend, It’s strength and love we send, to you, so, have some love.”
I’d love for others to listen to this track and tell me what they took away from it.

I could honestly write about every single track on the album however, for my last I’ve picked the final track titled Sober.
Sober is another track that left me somewhat confused about how it made me initially feel, the line “spend all your days wasted and hazy, thinking about the change.” And while I need to point out that it’s not a healthy lifestyle and in no way do I encourage it, I’m sure that there’s a few of us out there who can put their hands up and admit that they’ve accidentally slipped into “the haze” once or twice in life.

In short Dark Lullabies by Moonflower has definitely made me feel and think about a lot of things and I highly recommend that you listen to and buy this album, I need to congratulate Moonflower on such an amazing debut album.

Listen/buy Dark Lullabies on Reverbnation or Bandcamp