New Music: Florence Dore – Abacus

Not many songs begin with a reference to French philosopher-scientist René Descartes, but that is just one of the many things to love about Abacus.

Featuring on Hold the Spark, the new album from Chapel Hill, North Carolina musician Florence Dore shows that you can’t fully apply logic to love – it has its own rules and equations. And so does Abacus – Margo Price style Americana flows into and around 90s rock suggestive of Belly and Veruca Salt – so much so that you realise it’s futile trying to figure out what makes it so good, and instead join the track for the ride.

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts when it comes to love and marriage,” says Dore. “There’s no rules to a relationship. You can’t sit down with an abacus and figure out the math and logic of love. I’m married to a drummer who never went to college, and I have a PhD. Maybe that wouldn’t look good on paper, but we have a great relationship!”

“When I sing, ‘Yeah baby we’re together / Because of something you can’t measure / I made my mind up to stay with him / In spite of the algorithm,’ it’s a play on words about Will [Rigby, known for his work with Steve Earle & the Dukes, also The dB’s], being a drummer.”

Hold the Spark was released on the 1st of May via Propeller Sound Recordings and can be downloaded on Bandcamp. Florence Dore hits the road with Steve Earle this June – for details of that, check out Dore’s Facebook and Instagram socials.

Header photo by Lindsay Metivier