A surprisingly elegant sophomore set that has purportedly languished on the back-burner for six years,
Jon Fratelli's
Bright Night Flowers is a lush and mostly somber affair full of wistful orchestrations and country-tinged songwriting. As soft and understated as 2011's
Psycho Jukebox was brash and brawly,
Flowers presents a far more sensitive side of the Glaswegian guitar slinger that is far removed from the roguish indie rock of his flagship endeavor,
the Fratellis. After teasing this album's release in 2012,
Fratelli sidelined the collection and released two more albums with his band over the intervening years. Finally,
Flowers was re-recorded in the summer of 2018 with co-producer Stuart McCredie (
Belle & Sebastian,
Echo & the Bunnymen) and its stately piano-led ballads were augmented with delicate string arrangements, willowy pedal steel parts, and a very tasteful rhythm section. Reminiscent of
Richard Hawley's similarly melancholic overtures to early rock glory,
Fratelli inhabits the role of brooding country squire quite naturally, letting his dusty voice stretch out over well-crafted highlights like "Serenade in Vain" and "Evangeline." The subtle mid-album standout, "Rolling By," is an austere pop gem arranged simply for piano, voice, and strings that acts as the sweet melancholic core of this lovely nine-song set. Whether it remains an outlier in
Fratelli's canon or represents a new artistic direction,
Bright Night Flowers is an excellent bit of songwriting with a timeless feel. ~ Timothy Monger