‘Flower Whore’ is the intense new single from Portland-based Ruby Friedman Orchestra, and it’s a song with plenty of sonic surprises that blends observation and autobiography about “…opium, flowers, money, and sex work.” It begins with a propulsive strum, full of urgency and drama. As the song grows, layers of keys and flourishes of fiddle and saxophone add texture, altering the mood and keeping listeners alert for changes in tempo and instrumentation. Initially, Friedman’s voice is almost-spoken, tense and compelling, but then her vocal rises softly, “I don’t know any other way // I tried my best to keep the wolves at bay,” before dropping lower again, always commanding our attention and focus.
The song appears on Friedman’s new album, “Chimes After Midnight”, a collection of songs written or co-written by Friedman. Most of the songs were co-produced and arranged by Friedman and multi-instrumentalist Ben Landsverk, who is also the musical director of her live band and co-wrote three of the songs, including ‘Flower Whore’. Connie and Graham Yost, behind hit television shows Slow Horses, Silo, and Justified, are co-executive producers of the album and help bring additional creativity to the songs. Friedman says of the new album: “I’m giving voice to remarkable people who time will erase otherwise, ordinary men and women who changed history. Like chimes after midnight, theirs are the voices you would not hear — people in the dark. If there’s a thread on this album, there are a lot of tales about women — invisible women, or women made invisible who were trying to be seen and heard, or women kept in the dark, or exploited women.” Friedman has a keen sense of history, and several of the songs are true stories that still resonate today.
Friedman’s last full-length release was the well-received “Gem” in 2016, which was followed by a number of singles and songs for television shows, including ‘Fire Down Below’ on the trailer for the concluding season of the hit Netflix series ‘Peaky Blinders’ in 2022. Her varied output has in common a cinematic feel and a desire to innovate, and that continues to be the case with ‘Flower Whore’ and the new album. This is inventive music from an enigmatic writer and performer.
