Flower Face - “Skeleton Key”
Our favorite Montreal-based goth-folk artist Ruby McKinnon, aka Flower Face, has returned to us with “Skeleton Key,” an elegant approach to the sheer agony of heartbreak.
From atop a shimmering duet of guitars, Flower Face presents a wonderfully double-tracked vocal performance that instantly captivates the listener. Ambient swells of synth tones rise in the distance, padding the soundscape while providing a slight sense of tension between interspersed textures of harmonizing vocals.
“Skeleton Key” begins to pick up momentum as it enters the steady ascent into a crescendo. Flourishes of ghostly slide guitar provide a bit of ear candy as McKinnon’s vocal delivery gains emotional potency. All of this is bound tightly together by the deep notes from a bass.
Just past midpoint, “Skeleton Key” is joined by a full-band arrangement, complete with a gentle rhythm from the drum kit and the sweet, mellifluous sounds of keys and strings that magnificently permeate throughout the production. This elevation in sound is quite substantial, again adding to the overall intensity, engulfing the listener like a dark, vehement wave.
About the track, McKinnon adds: “‘Skeleton Key’ is about being blindsided - when you throw all your love into someone and then they disappear. I wrote it about a very brief relationship where I hadn’t even met the person, so in a more meta sense it is also about my ability to mine even the smallest, most insignificant moments for inspiration, creating something so dramatic and intense out of essentially nothing.”
We have featured every song that Flower Face has sent over to us, and once you hear “Skeleton Key,” you will understand the reason for this. The track comes ahead of Flower Face’s forthcoming album, Girl Prometheus, due for release on the first of November via Nettwerk Music Group. Please join us in anticipating its arrival.