Florry’s Sounds Like… is a record that thrives in its looseness. It doesn’t force itself into any tidy genre corners, instead, it lets things unfold at their own pace, somewhere between country rock, indie fuzz, and unvarnished live-session energy. Led by Francie Medosch, the Philadelphia-bred, now Vermont-based group sounds more confident and unrestrained than ever, delivering a record that feels both deliberate in its songwriting and completely uninterested in polish for its own sake.
The opener, “First it was a movie, then it was a book,” is the longest and most layered track here, and arguably the best. Medosch delivers her lines in a sing-speak style that veers between introspective and sarcastic, threading lyrics about emotional recognition in film through a haze of guitar squall and ad-libbed commentary. It’s a song that piles riff on top of riff, occasionally veering into chaos but always pulling back before it loses shape. Elsewhere, Sounds Like… plays with contrast. “Hey Baby” is an understated standout, simple in structure but lyrically sharp in with Medosch questioning the depth of a relationship without leaning too hard into melodrama. “Say Your Prayers Rock” reshapes an older song into something more raw and immediate, with a pace that mirrors the kind of bar-band energy the group clearly enjoys.
The album’s live take on “Sexy” fades almost imperceptibly into “Truck Flipped Over ‘19,” creating a continuous stretch of sound that feels like it could’ve been lifted straight from a gig. Medosch has a way of writing lyrics that scan as both specific and conversational. “Pretty Eyes Lorraine” lands as one of the more emotionally direct tracks, full of small details and carefully phrased lines that don’t beg for attention but stay with you. On “Big Something,” the addition of Katya Malison’s harmonies and a slightly more buoyant arrangement gives the record a dose of lightness without tipping into anything too sweet.
Instrumentation across the record is handled by a rotating cast of players on pedal steel, fiddle, mandolin, and banjo. However, nothing feels over-arranged or overly rehearsed. There’s room for missed notes and shifts in tempo, and the result is a record that mirrors the reality of playing music with friends. Sounds Like… doesn’t chase some ideal version of itself. It lets each song breathe, even when that means drifting into noise or falling into an extended instrumental passage. It takes influence from artists like The Band, Son Volt, and The Rolling Stones, but it never feels like pastiche. Medosch’s perspective, both as a songwriter and vocalist, is too distinct for that. The title feels apt. This record doesn’t sound like a specific thing, it sounds like a band figuring it out as they go, and making something memorable in the process.
