Flower Face is a Nettwerk Records artist from Canada who writes sumptuous folk pop that is both dark and delicate. Known in real life as Ruby McKinnon, she takes inspiration from such varied sources as Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events, Jesus Christ Superstar, the oeuvre of Mads Mikkelsen, and her dog Ziggy. Flower Face crafts a unique musical testimony that is dressed in longing, sadness, and gorgeous orchestral embellishment.

On latest single "Back To You" we visit the recurring theme of lost connection, and the difficulties involved with moving beyond a relationship that refuses to go quietly. Especially when it comes to that first love: we tend to invent a story that isolates us from the outside world as we suffer a continued cycle of mourning and alienation, as if the pain will never subside. "Back To You" points out the futility of this pattern with poignant grace.

Artistically, Flower Face leverages the details of her young life into a font of inspiration—her own battle with stage three ovarian cancer at the age of 17, and her experiences in pursuit of the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree that she put to good use designing all the album artwork and conceptualizing her music videos. Her perspective on life was shaped in part by her "close brush with the grim reaper" and this adds a layer of sombre presence to her flowing melodies. With added elements from the orchestral palette that often include strings, horns, and woodwinds, her music feels rich, yet lithe, benefitting equally from a complex worldview that is evident in the lyrics as well a warm, piercing vocal tone.

[Back To You] is about being unable to get over someone - something so frustratingly typical and universal that somehow manages to feel like a singular experience, like this longing and sadness is something that you yourself invented. — Flower Face

Baby, you're so famous but you sold out your soul
You went and let it all go on a melody
Some kind of tragedy
So quit your job, come sleep in my bed
We'll get by on our roses and our elegies
Things we could never see

Well, it's always back to you again
Always back to you, my friend
You keep me on the run
Never learned to lose a fight
Never learned to grow up right
This is who we are
How will I release you now?
How can I forgive myself when I'm still in love with you?

Classically trained in piano since the age of 5, McKinnon began writing her own music at 14. Encouraged by her music-obsessed parents, she formed Flower Face in true D.I.Y. style: by recording her independent debut, Fever Dreams, almost exclusively on her dad’s GarageBand app. Teeming with acoustic heartbreak hymns, it didn’t take long for the album to find space on bedroom playlists alongside The National, Daughter, Big Thief, and Mazzy Star.

Visit Flower Face on Instagram.

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