These Rotting Flowers Track-by-Track Breakdown

”Intro”

Amelia: I loved the idea of an intro track to transport our listeners into our own universe of These Rotting Flowers. I feel like it creates a whole new dystopian world to get lost in. It’s full of references that are related to the songs, from The Doom Generation (my favourite film that I shared with one of my closest old friends) to The Wallace Collection - “Daydream”… That song has always felt so hauntingly beautiful to me and I used to listen to it on repeat. I love Jaz’s added weird guitar sounds and feedback and of course, Leanne introducing the first song! She is a cutie!!

Jaz: We discussed having an opening track or just a track somewhere on the album that was like random radio sounds/old songs/bits from films etc., a la Hole’s “Star Belly”. I just recorded and mixed it at mine. There’s some sampling of Wallace Collection, the original animated Alice in Wonderland film from 1951, and also the film Doom Generation, which ties in later on in our song “Daisychains” when Amelia sings ‘Doom Generation’ in one of the choruses.

I put some weird guitar sounds and feedback in there too, along with me evil-laughing and deep-throating my mic. And then at the end is my 7-year-old niece Leanne introducing the first song by shouting ‘FOR-GET ME NOT!’ which is proper cute!

Yusuf: This was all Jaz and Amelia. Mostly Jaz, I think. I was against it at first, but I was outvoted. Turned out great.

”Forget Me Nots”

Amelia: “Forget Me Nots” is all about calculated, deceptive human beings. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of them out there! You can paint yourself to be whoever you want to be in the face of others, but I pride myself in having a strong judgment of character and can normally see right through it all. This is a really fun song to play live and I love the shouty bits.

Jaz: When we first rehearsed this, I started off by playing the main riff as just power chords but it sounded too much like our old stuff and too ‘straight up punk’ like wannabe Sex Pistols tribute… So I converted it to higher strings and added in notes here and there which sounded more Smashing Pumpkins-esque in my opinion.

I had a guitarist friend 'round recently who went, “I love your use of the Mixolydian mode for this”, I just went, “Huh okay, didn’t realize that’s what I was doing”. I love the lyrics for this one too. When we recorded it we had to do it in parts; I have no idea how Amelia sings that fast onstage while also playing the bass.

Yusuf: “Forget Me Nots” is a perfect opening track - for the album and for gigs. It’s so direct and urgent. I love the intensity, especially live. I get a kick out of the repetitive drum accents.

”Heaven is a Television”

Amelia: I wrote this song as a fun little bass riff that originally I thought was way too pop-punk sounding and that I would never actually use. The lyrics reflect a time that I’m sure a lot of others have felt and can resonate with. It’s very easy to fall into a routine of just blocking out your current reality and taking comfort in your favourite shows. You start to absorb yourself into the TV just so you don’t have to face up to whatever situation you’re in. I think it’s such an easy but toxic cycle especially when you’re hurting and feeling trapped. I don’t have a TV anymore. I do really miss chain-watching Malcolm in the Middle, but that’s about it.

Jaz: As a band, we are always bonding over TV shows. All 3 of us love The Simpsons and Malcolm in the Middle among many other classic shows. As I understand it, the theme is fairly straightforward: You’re in a relationship that isn’t working out and you’ve run out of things to say to each other, so you find comfort in watching your favourite shows and ignoring the problem. I love to escape into the idiot-box too.

The guitar parts for this one are funny. In the chorus I do a System of a Down style shift between 2 chords which came about by accident at the first rehearsal of this song wherein I didn’t actually know which chord I was meant to be playing… and then the clean guitar bridge part is what me and Yusuf call my Weezer-style section. There’s a harmonizing guitar solo (which is on the album, but I don’t play it live) I’ve always wanted to try because it’s very Thin Lizzy.

Yusuf: This is my favourite song. I’m a pop punker at heart (don’t tell Jaz and Amelia). When I listen to the album it’s always the one that gets stuck in my head. And I watch a LOT of TV. I don’t know how Amelia lives without one. Maybe she’ll have to get one for the Malcolm in the Middle reboot.

”Spyral”

Amelia: One of my favourite tracks because I just love the opening bassline so much. This track makes me feel like I’m spinning round in a circle. We shot a video for this dressed as clowns on Brighton pier. Our good friend Alex is amazing at what he does and we are so pleased with the outcome. The way I describe this song is if a fly was trapped in your head and couldn't find the way out.

Jaz: “Spyral”! Very fun song. It’s the one song I play in Drop-D because I wanted it to sound a little heavier. Then I take inspo from Deftones for the chorus chords, adding in weird extra notes to the chords. The chaos in the second verse is cool with the layers of guitar. It’s definitely a song that makes me want to throw things around the room.

Yusuf: This is such a fun one to play. Short and bitter. Heavy as well. I think Amelia’s comparison to a lost fly buzzing around inside your head is perfect. It’s frantic.

”Daisychains”

Amelia: “Daisychains” is taken from a lot of old lyrics I wrote maybe 10 years ago. I’ve always been super into the occult and out of the ordinary situations I’ve somehow found myself in. I think when you spend so much time thinking about that sort of thing you really do start to attract it. Gotta be careful, I guess. This song talks about some of my personal experiences in that field and the times it got a little out of hand.

Jaz: This song carries very mystical and spiritual meanings. Guitar-wise, I just used a lot of Chorus effect to give it that spacey feel, and I do a rare clean-sounding guitar solo in this one that took me f’ing ages to actually be able to play live after having recorded it.

Yusuf: Another fun one to play. It’s so different. A bit more “indie.” I think, in part, ‘cos of the drums. And Jaz’s clean guitars. It starts out gentle and pretty.

When I heard it at band practice, I started channeling Future Islands and older Bloc Party songs. Then it gets spiteful and angry again on the choruses. I really like the dynamic shift and the way the song stands out from all the others. They’re all cool, but maybe this one feels extra special.

”Swimming”

Amelia: “Swimming” is from a poem I wrote a long time ago. It’s not about anyone in particular but it’s about wanting to fully immerse yourself in somebody else. I really enjoy the idea of full romance and submerging yourself in it.

I actually recorded all of this sat in my living room and poor Yusuf had to then decode all my guitar playing because I’m not really a guitarist at all, I just play whatever I think sounds nice. I used my multi-effects pedal to make it sound dreamlike but still keep it super raw.

Jaz: This one is all Amelia, I just added the weird fizzy sounds. We took Sonic Youth’s cover of “Superstar” as inspo.

Yusuf: I’m looking forward to playing this one live, finally, at the album launch show. Lyrically, it’s one of my favourites. It has a very emotional feel to it.

”Spit in my Mouth”

Amelia: I love the switch of dynamics in this one and always look forward to playing this live. This was hard to record in Jaz’s flat as her neighbours constantly complain about noise so I’m sure they did not appreciate the many many takes of getting the vocals right.

Lyrically, I wanted to tie this in with the ongoing flower theme. This is about someone almost begging for your love and attention and then as soon as it begins to finally bloom, they chop it all away. It’s like the old saying about the chase being better than the catch.

Jaz: This song has all the dynamics you could ever want. It shifts from hardcore thrash to doo-wop style singing and back to hardcore again. We get to hear some nice Yusuf harmonies in this too, I think he can actually sing in a higher pitch than me! I always find it really funny when we play this live because we get a lot of people dancing the most to the doo-wop style choruses which just goes to show… we’re not all as ‘punk rock’ as we make out to be!

Yusuf: Probably my second favourite. And possibly the funnest one to play (sorry if I’ve said that already about another song). The fast punk intros are badass and were influenced by Amelia’s wicked vocal delivery. The way she starts the song is so in your face (mouth?) and brutal. Then I threw in some ‘50s, “makeout hill” style shoo-wop drums on the choruses. I think it’s the most challenging one to play live, for me, but it’s totally worth it.

Sleep Jeans

Amelia: I think we wrote this randomly when we had been drinking a fair bit at a band practice, the original phone recordings are quite a fair bit slower and doomier. Sometimes we play this one heavier, depending on how Jaz feels like starting on the night. I don’t understand how Liam sleeps in jeans. He’s an odd one.

We also shot a video for this one with our friends Tom and Laine and Alex again. This was honestly such a fun day. I wish I could do it all over again. We were super hungover from playing with Death Pill the night before and having too many tequila shots before our early morning trip to Margate.

Jaz: I definitely have a lot to say about this one. It came out of a conversation Amelia and I were having about when I first met my partner Liam 7 years ago (our anniversary is the day before this album drops actually). On one of our first dates, he was wearing these awful brown jeans that were like 2 sizes too big for him, fastened by one of those rope-looking belts. Obviously, I went ‘What are THOSE??’ and he said ‘Oh, these are my sleep jeans’. At the time, he was sleeping on the floor in a shared room as he had just moved here from Australia, so it apparently made sense for him to be wearing jeans as a buffer between him and the floor. But it begs the question, why did he decide to wear these jeans to a date? He’s an odd being. I eventually threw away the horrible jeans and bought him some pajamas, which he now actually wears, and I let him sleep in my bed instead of the floor.

Anyway, we’d been drinking before this rehearsal, and discussing Liam’s ‘sleep jeans’ and I started just playing this slow grunge riff, so this song came very organically to us. I think it’s relatable because we’ve all done it when we’re drunk and f’cked up, accidentally passed out in our jeans, and woke up feeling uncomfortable. But the fact Liam actually had a pair of jeans he designated as his sleep jeans is still baffling to this very day…

Guitar-wise, my favourite band is Radiohead, and I think the solo bits do sound quite Jonny Greenwood if I do say so myself.

Yusuf: I remember this one coming together at a band practice one night. It all just happened so naturally. Even most of the lyrics, I think. I like to think that my drums had a big influence on the song, but they were probably influenced by Jaz’s droning, doomy riff. It’s unusually slow and “stoner rock” for me, but I love the way there’s two kicks at the start of most of (nearly all) the lines.

”These Rotting Flowers”

Amelia: This is my personal favourite track of the whole album. We really did not practice this before going into recording and it felt more like a jam session and ended when it felt right. The song speaks about holding onto situations that aren’t good or right for you just because there’s comfort in staying still. Change is sometimes scary…

”These Rotting Flowers” is also a reference to our cover art and floral fasciations. Fasciations occur when a flower's bloom starts to show an abnormal or unusual growth, this can look like two flowers have been pushed and merged together on the same stalk. The growth will develop into a fasciation due to a number of reasons, one being a response to its environment. You can only hold onto a situation for so long before you have to face up to the reality as bitter as it may seem.

For me, this is definitely the most personal and intimate song showing raw vulnerability which isn’t always easy to do. I wrote “Roots” as our ending track but really wanted to incorporate that in this one as well so that’s what Jaz is saying. I also love her solo in this, not sure how she just whacked it out like it was nothing!

Jaz: The titular track. One we have never played live, YET! It’s very layered, for the intro riff I was inspired by The Cardigans. The main crux of the song is very repetitive but just sort of dips in and out of lyrics, harmonies, riffs, and solos. I think it sounds a bit Smashing Pumpkins-esque too when the heavy part kicks in. I basically just solo’d over the whole track when we recorded it and then we decided after, in post-production, which bits to highlight in the mix. I think this song has ended up as a masterpiece, despite it being one we barely even rehearsed before going into recording. The poetry I read out was written by Amelia and is basically the lyrics to the last song “Roots”, spoken word style in this a la Kim Gordon.

Yusuf: Another one that kind of came together with minimal effort, at least for me anyway. I think I only really finalized what I play as we were recording it. Luckily, it’s another spacey, mantra kind of song, so I think that feel works. It’s kind of dreamlike but in the real world.

”Roots”

Amelia: Sometimes life is scary and sometimes life hurts. “Roots” is about knowing that eventually, the darkness will subside, and you won’t hold onto that sadness forever. It’s time to get up and move on with life and let yourself be grounded in one way or another.

I think as humans we forget how resilient we actually are. We are responsible for allowing ourselves to bloom and to get rid of the rot and start over. I really love the birds tweeting and chirping as to me this represents the start of a new day. It’s letting go of the past and starting anew.

Jaz: I decided to write this riff in C standard which was something I was experimenting a lot with at the time. I also recorded some birds tweeting and background noises from my balcony for this one. I think it wraps up the album well. The flowers have all rotted away (like a relationship ending), but now you’re ready to plant new seeds and let the new roots take form finally, after all that trauma and chaos. The flower theme runs through this album almost making it a concept album. We close off with an Edvard Munch quote to tie it all together neatly.

Yusuf: Always makes me start singing, “Roots, bloody roots!”