Perched on a doorstep with her long hair flowing past her shoulders under a black sunhat, 17 year-old Londoner Flower Fellow – or Colette Olive to those who know her – has unveiled her latest B-side ‘The Rope That Ties Us’, a stunning addition to her single ‘Madman’. Purring to life with delicately pressed keys, wholesome, dreamy vocals are married with baroque pop and 70s-inspired acoustic-led folk in this unashamedly stripped-back track.
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On first listen, one might expect a lo-fi hook, yet it never comes; and this is not at all a bad thing. With the song’s gentle but evocative chorus, Flower Fellow laments that she’ll “never cut this rope that ties you to me” in her tender brogue, carrying the listener away with her echoic falsetto. ‘The Rope That Ties Us’ explores the struggle to let go after a relationship and the love and care that always lingers, with a sound not a million miles away from that of SOAK.
The listener is reminded of a pirouetting ballerina in a jewellery box as the bluesy rhythm clocks in at a short and sweet three minutes and four seconds. ‘The Rope That Ties Us’ is melancholic and almost bitter, but with a satisfying sense of hope.
Words by Kristen Sinclair