Flowers for Juno have always inhabited the charcoal-smudged corners of the musical map, but their latest offering, ‘Lipstick and Furs’, feels like a particularly defiant transmission from the brink. This three-track release marks the first creative output from producer and multi-instrumentalist Benjó James since January’s Bacchanalia Coppélia, and it arrives carrying the heavy, humid air of a hard-won recovery.
The lead track is a dense thicket of gothic rock and ethereal darkwave, though it was birthed from a moment of total physical stasis. James reflects on the song’s sudden arrival: "Around the time of the release of Bacchanalia Coppélia I was drinking so heavily I had to spend a good couple of weeks recovering from alcohol poisoning. I was broke and bedridden and at absolute rock bottom; recording more music was the least of my priorities. Yet somehow I picked up my guitar up, and five minutes later I had the music and lyrics ready for Lipstick and Furs. Two weeks later I released it as a single."
That sense of frantic, feverish urgency permeates the recording. The track opens with an unexpectedly pastoral serenity—birdsong and the delicate pluck of Freja Crozier’s Northumbrian harp—before James’s vocals steer the ship into deeper, murkier waters. As the arrangement swells, it becomes a maximalist exercise in texture. Fuzz bass synthesisers and Mellotron swells collide with the sharp, rhythmic slaps of bass, creating a soundscape that feels both cinematic and claustrophobic.
Lyrically, the song is an inventory of artifice. It cycles through a list of stylised signifiers—hoop earrings, designer purses, and fake tan—transforming these mundane objects into pillars of an unattainable fantasy. The refrain, "You’re so far from me, a fantasy," acts as a haunting anchor, grounded by a "woah, oh, oh, oh" hook that feels earned rather than manufactured.
The accompanying mixes, including the 'Vincent Van Goth' reimagining of ‘The Girl with the Hoop Earrings’, further lean into the project's psychedelic and horror-soundtrack influences. Throughout the release, James balances 80s-inflected nostalgia with a contemporary, jagged edge. It is a record that refuses to resolve neatly, choosing instead to end on unsettling pitch bends and lingering shadows.
With the new release, Flowers for Juno have managed to turn a personal low point into a high-water mark for atmospheric, thoughtful darkwave. You can stream the new tracks above via Spotify, and for more, be sure to follow Flowers For Juno on Instagram and Facebook.
