Track Review: The Rope That Ties Us // Flower Fellow

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.

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

Originally published at https://www.indiependent.co.uk on September 18, 2015.