Floetry!
..an epsy into their latest album"Flo'Ology"
There’s no doubt that Marsha Ambrosius (the Songstress) and Natalie Stewart (the Floacist) share a natural musical spark when they join forces to become Floetry.
With their third offering, Flo’Ology, the duo’s sound is more sophisticatedthan ever, oozing a touch of class that is lacking among their sex-peddling contemporaries. But there is also something to be said here about their spoken word-meets-neo-soul approach wearing out its welcome.
Although their chemistry is undeniable, the Floacist’s pseudo-spiritual verses are easily outshined by the Songstress’s gorgeous vocals.
Ambrosius and Stewart, however, radiate an empowering self-awareness, no longer victims suffering from love’s growing pains, but active participants in the progression.
Instead of expressing the headaches, hatred, and heartbreak that women are so accustomed to, and attached to, in song, the lead single, “SupaStar,” truly honors love, without hesitation.
Floetry puts its special someone on a pedestal while predictable (yet befitting) choice Common joins in to “dream of a love supreme” over Scott Storch’s melodic, mid-tempo keys. As Ambrosius sings, “My love is honest and true and I can prove it,” Stewart falls short in her attempt to match Common’s level of lyricism.
While the interaction of two different vocal styles is what makes Floetry distinct, Ambrosius’s voice is strong, breathy, and beautiful enough to carry an entire album on her own. She rubs up real nice against the dancehall-tinged drums on “Closer,” a flirty, don’t-fight-the-feeling song slightly weighed down by Stewart’s sultry yet unsubstantial wordplay.
The Ambrosius-produced “Feelings” is a vulnerable, private ballad about catching feelings. Backed by a piano, Ambrosius’s emotive alto digs deep inside and lingers there for five heart-gripping minutes.
Even while we long for more soul and less flo’, the pair comes together brilliantly on the album’s most intimate moment, “Lay Down.” The Floacist’s sexy sweet-talk meandering alongside the Songstress’s coos is the perfect complement here.
The equally sensual “Imagination” encourages a lover to do whatever, go wherever, over Raphael Saadiq’s well-crafted bells and bass. Ambrosius sings, “I’m your favorite memory, remember me...I’m your favorite melody, listen to me.”
Having penned proven songs for Michael Jackson (“Butterflies”) and Styles P (the chorus on “I’m Black”), among others, Floetry makes an ill-judged attempt at covering Bob Marley & the Wailers’ “Waiting in Vain.” Ambrosius barely carries the vintage unrequited-love tune beside Stewart’s superfluous ad-libs.
The couple is better served when it delves further into its own emotional intricacies of relationships. “Don’t Know What 2 Say” finds the pair tongue-tied over a crush and not knowing how to come clean, while “I’ll Die” is an empowering anthem about leaving when part of you wants to stay.
The range of emotions explored on Flo’Ology spans love’s many-splintered spectrum. Torn feelings of uncertainty reach beyond the musical content here, because it’s hard to believe in much when hurricanes and frightening government disregard are sinking and tearing apart lives.
But Floetry will make you believe in love, allegiance, sisterhood, and those special sparks. And while they may not inspire you to rise up or start the revolution, their soothing sounds are sure to help get you through the night.
- Laura Checkoway
