Flo: Therapy at the Club review – skirting the dancefloor and overly sweating the small stuff
When Flo burst out in 2022, the trio were hailed as the second coming of the R&B girl group, and even paid homage to their harmonising forebears Destiny’s Child, Sugababes and SWV in the intro to debut album Access All Areas. They didn’t quite hit as expected – only one single scraped the Top 40 – but they sound undeterred on a vibey second album that adds lyrical spice and musical left turns.
Therapy at the Club follows the flow of a night out, but one rooted in the slight mania of romantic disappointment rather than euphoric release. Pose is a pared-back interpolation of Pump Up the Jam, skittering hi-hat hits echoing the clicks of confidence-boosting burst-mode selfies. On Remedied, Flo are distracted by the admin of getting a cab as big-band horns blast behind an anxious beat; with its 3/4 time signature, piano and dreamy melismatic vocals, the title track sounds more like sashaying through the park than the soundtrack to copping off with strangers.
Like any self-respecting girl group, Flo have their balladry down: Floating is a belter, showcasing their chemistry as the three vocal lines soar around each other. But at 16 often mid-paced tracks, the album drags. Miss U Missing Me meanders through a ghosting situation that ends up feeling kind of justified. The overall disconnect between theme and energy is distracting: there’s self-assurance to Therapy at the Club’s unhurried pace, though more time sweating it out on the dancefloor would make it a more satisfying listen.
Reporting from The Guardian contributed to this story.
