Maisie Peters - Florescence

Florescence (noun): the process of flowering, of developing richly and fully. On her third album of the same name, Maisie Peters has chronicled just that - the trials and tribulations of being in your mid-twenties and the growth that goes hand-in-hand with struggle. While her last album, ‘The Good Witch’, consisted of full-scale bombastic breakup pop, ‘Florescence’ trades the spotlight for the idyllic peace of falling in love (‘Nothing Like Being in Love’), quiet bedrooms (‘My Regards’), and the “rolling hills and spires” of the countryside (‘Audrey Hepburn’).


Accompanying this slower pace of life is the record’s slower tempo and folky warmth. On ‘Kingmaker’, Julia Michaels’ feature adds unhurried softness and diaristic vulnerability. Elsewhere, ‘You You You’ harnesses all-consuming obsession and filters it through a vocoder to make a shimmering ballad. Occasionally, though, she struggles to let the folk sound fully take the reins. ‘Questions’ and ‘Girl’s Just Flying’ sound like power pop tracks eager to take off, but the record’s scaled-back production leaves them hanging with unfulfilled potential.


She shines most where she always has done: in her lyrics. Her golden pen is deft, chronicling the bittersweet nature of messiness, the joy in making mistakes, and the satisfaction that comes from growth. There is no shortage of stellar one-liners - “A bookshelf full of women you’ll never read, if you’re honest” (‘Houses’) and “My body’s not a temple, more a bachelorette pad” (‘Mary Janes’) - but the album is not without its slight lyrical missteps. “I love you like a flat earther” from ‘Flat Earther’ fails to fully land and the hook “fucking weird behaviour” from ‘Kingmaker’ feels all-too-social-media-ready.


‘Florescence’, then, is an appropriate title for the album. Messy at times, impeccably self-aware, and charged with the burning desire for the stability and peace of mind that comes with growing up.