Hello, Saturn, how may we focus better, connection closer to hearts, and music of course

Why am I here and why you might want to be here with me?

I would like to try something new

In general, I don’t like to go very long without trying new things. I think particularly now in 2023 we live in a world where getting stuck is too easy. It is too easy to do what is easy.

Music is my world, inner and outer. I make it and I share it, to put things minimally. I eat, mostly pay my bills, and spend time with my family. I enjoy slacking off and occasionally over indulging in darkness and thrill, all under the umbrella of music. My band Florist is celebrating it’s 10th year. For the better part of a decade we have been navigating a mostly DIY music world. Recording ourselves, hand making merch, learning how to create a website, booking our own tours, making friends with strangers, and sleeping on basement floors. A lot of that stuff now is done for us, or done for us, but reflecting on the journey of these last 10 years has got me thinking a lot about what really has changed.

I feel more disconnected from the world than ever, despite probably spending more time online than ever before. I feel separate from friends, fans, and from engaging with my practice when we are not on tour (which is increasingly my favorite part of this life, for the connections we get to make in person on the road).

I am a child of the late 90’s and early 00’s and grew up mostly without internet. It wasn’t until a few years after graduating high school that I felt this whole technological integration really started accelerating at a dizzying speed. At first it was really great. The internet connected me with amazing things I never got from my small rural childhood. The internet gave me music and art and movies that welled my eyes and fueled a journey which I had no idea where it was leading but knew I needed to go there. I jumped head first into uncertainty because I knew in my heart I wanted to experience the wide world and connect with people through vulnerable sounds. I was motivated by the idea that there is so much more out there.

The memories of those days and the clear headedness has gotten obscured by frantic feeling interactions, avoidance and anxiety. Particularly around non-connection connecting through screens. I am not here because I want to preach the evil of social media or technology. I am here because I love the internet and I want to use it again for things that excite me, things that inspire me. To create more and share some of it along the way in this new chapter of my life. I am a musician first, somewhat of a poet and artist slightly under that, I guess. But I am a human who wants to try to make the best out of this scary situation, try something new, and maybe you would like to try something new here with me too.

I don’t expect posting here to be very often, but I think a fun goal for me would be two or three posts a month. Here are some ideas for topics that I wrote down. So maybe expect some of that.

• Florist history archive

• Ambient music monthly club

• Tour trails and tales 

• Monthly poem club

• semi Quarterly list of good things

• Nature on screens

• make a song of a picture

• make a picture of a song

• Florist live sessions

• unloved lyrics

• Interviews with friends about Saturn

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I will be transitioning all Florist and Emily A. Sprague updates to this platform over the course of 2023, so get on the email list if you would like to be informed of new music, tours, and some occasional other thoughts. Everything I post here will be under the “free” subscription umbrella. I’ve decided that I don’t want to charge anyone for this experience and I also don’t want to feel any pressure to provide a paid service. There may very rarely be an audio snippet, unreleased piece of music, poem, or live video. All that being said, I will leave the paid subscription option available. Since I would like to dedicate a good handful of hours a month to this, maybe some people with the means can help that cause with a small donation.

The first “real” post here is going to be a Florist 10 year archival retrospective of sorts with some rare ephemera, images, designs and fun facts to celebrate the first decade of this project that has kinda become my(our) life’s work.

And lastly while I have you here, please see a list below of Florist’s currently on sale Tour Dates (there will be more this year! stay tuned):

MARCH
Mar 16 - Bristol, UK @ Strange Brew *
Mar 17 - Brighton, UK @ The Hope & Ruin *
Mar 18 - London, UK @ EartH Theatre - LOW TICKETS *
Mar 19 - Kortrijk, BE @ De Kreun *
Mar 20 - Brussels, BE @ Le Botanique *
Mar 21 – Luxemburg, LU @ Rotondes *
Mar 22 - Utrecht, NL @ Ekko - SOLD OUT
Mar 23 - Madrid, ES @ Teatros Del Canal
Mar 24 - Valencia, ES @ Loco Club
Mar 25 - Barcelona, ES @ La Textil
* w/ Anna Mieke

JUNE
Jun 17 – Glendalough Estate Co. Wicklow, IE @ Beyond The Pale Festival
Jun 18 – Mannheim, DE @ Maifeld Derby Festival
Jun 29 – Roskilde, DK @ Roskilde Festival

thanks for reading.

love,

mle

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