New Vinyl Day: Floral EPs 1 & 2

2/16/2025 | Tags: music, vinyl

Trying out a new idea today... I have a burgeoning vinyl record collection, and it brings me much joy whenever I obtain a new addition. It struck me as a perfect opportunity to translate that joy into a short blog post where I show off my shiny object and gush about music I like.

This weekend, after a long journey, my Floral vinyl finally made its way to me. (I may have forgotten to pick it up from the USPS depot when it was first delivered last month.) This is a really cool item, compiling the two EPs by math rock duo Floral very neatly - The Floral EP on the front side, The Second Floral EP on the back. It is in fact a 10-year anniversary repress, celebrating these two 2014 and 2015 releases.

These EPs have some really great tunes on them. I discovered them sometime around 2018, right as I was hitting the peak of my math rock phase at the tail end of high school. Floral, to me, reduces math rock down to its essential parts: a guitarist tapping in open string tunings, and a drummer carving out odd times on a tiny kit. No vocals, no bass, just two dudes and their time signatures.

Nate Sherman's approach to guitar has had a huge influence on my bass playing; after reading a comment online alleging he was playing a song in a BF#BF#BF#, I went down a rabbit hole of fifth-based tunings on bass that I still write riffs in to this day. Every once in awhile I'll realize that one of my riffs took a rhythm or a pattern straight out of a Floral song without even intending to. Their sound is just that baked into my brain at this point.

Ok, I'll talk about the vinyl a little more. The jacket features reimagined artwork of both EPs, again one on the front and one on the back. There's a little insert included with the track listing and credits on it, allowing the jacket artwork to take up all the real estate. They look incredible, instantly recognizable as a Floral record while translating excellently to the high resolution.

The front side is particularly recognizable. The second one is more lavender than the original, but I like it.

The record itself is stunning as well. I chose the 1/2 trans blue & 1/2 trans red with black splatter option, and it looks so yummy. I would eat this thing if I could. I really love how well this variant matches the two album covers.

I'm no sort of audiophile or anything, so I don't have much to comment on regarding the sound. Like, it sounds great, and I have no complaints. It's exactly what I would have hoped for. I was a little worried it might have been at greater risk of getting damaged since I had to have it shipped twice, but there's no quality issues at all.

Like I could really eat it guys

To speak a little more on the music, both EPs are excellent, clearly similar but distinct. I find it interesting that the second EP has an overall brighter sound to my ears, that sparkling quality that people associate with math rock. The first EP certainly has its sparkles, but I find it is often darker, particularly on the first two tracks. The real meat of it, though, is in the center, with tracks like "Cars" and "Picture of Flower." Such addicting rhythms.

The Second Floral EP is, again, overall much brighter to my ears. The whole thing is excellent, well-executed math rock, but the first two tracks really stand out as my favorite Floral songs. "Marsh Partition" has so many little jumps and tricks in it, ending on a prolonged outro that sounds so massive despite the limited instrumentation. "Town Picnic" is, in my eyes, a perfect math rock song. With a runtime of 1:21, it's a tiny thing, even for a band as short-spoken as Floral is; there are no songs on either EP longer than 3 minutes. So this track is particularly miniature, a masterpiece of a little toy that runs its course precisely without overstaying its welcome or feeling underdeveloped. I love this song to bits.

Floral is absolutely worth a listen for any math rock enjoyer out there. I don't have much of a sense for how well known they are in that sphere, but man, have they really defined my view of the genre. I'm so delighted to have such a beautiful physical copy of this thing so I can point to now whenever I talk about how important it is to me. Though it is a bit harder to put "Town Picnic" on loop this way...

Get it for yourself: Choke Records