Flourish

Grapefruit Records announces the release of Flourish, Sarah Mary Chadwick’s eleventh studio album. This sprawling 80-minute double LP takes us on a journey with a cinematic arc in Kodachrome honesty. Furious, feminist, funny and occasionally danceable, it documents a near-paralysingly difficult year.

Spoken word and hip hop mark a departure, but Chadwick’s literate lyricism challenges what we think we know about her as a songwriter. It is equal parts Death Grips, Kim Gordon, Earl Sweatshirt and Girls on Fire, with references to Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, Anne Heche, Janet Frame and DMX.

Recorded, mixed and mastered at home, the album is DIY and scrappy, full of fried sounds, looping and sampling. It details and deconstructs Chadwick’s recovery from an abusive relationship, taking swipes at pop culture and the patriarchy with humour and withering wit.