(EMI)
The British R&B girl group’s follow up to 2024’s Access All Areas is lyrically spicy and musically diverse but lacks the hedonism the title suggests
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.